diff --git a/cvxpy/reductions/solvers/nlp_solvers/diff_engine/c_problem.py b/cvxpy/reductions/solvers/nlp_solvers/diff_engine/c_problem.py
index 98daad1369..c9a922438b 100644
--- a/cvxpy/reductions/solvers/nlp_solvers/diff_engine/c_problem.py
+++ b/cvxpy/reductions/solvers/nlp_solvers/diff_engine/c_problem.py
@@ -16,17 +16,9 @@
 """
 
 import numpy as np
+from sparsediffpy import _sparsediffengine as _diffengine
 
 import cvxpy as cp
-
-# Import the low-level C bindings
-try:
-    from sparsediffpy import _sparsediffengine as _diffengine
-except ImportError as e:
-    raise ImportError(
-        "NLP support requires sparsediffpy. Install with: pip install sparsediffpy"
-    ) from e
-
 from cvxpy.reductions.solvers.nlp_solvers.diff_engine.converters import (
     build_variable_dict,
     convert_expr,
diff --git a/cvxpy/reductions/solvers/nlp_solvers/diff_engine/converters.py b/cvxpy/reductions/solvers/nlp_solvers/diff_engine/converters.py
index f56272a42d..8468281187 100644
--- a/cvxpy/reductions/solvers/nlp_solvers/diff_engine/converters.py
+++ b/cvxpy/reductions/solvers/nlp_solvers/diff_engine/converters.py
@@ -21,18 +21,11 @@
 
 import numpy as np
 from scipy import sparse
+from sparsediffpy import _sparsediffengine as _diffengine
 
 import cvxpy as cp
 from cvxpy.reductions.inverse_data import InverseData
 
-# Import the low-level C bindings
-try:
-    from sparsediffpy import _sparsediffengine as _diffengine
-except ImportError as e:
-    raise ImportError(
-        "NLP support requires sparsediffpy. Install with: pip install sparsediffpy"
-    ) from e
-
 
 def normalize_shape(shape):
     """Normalize shape to 2D (d1, d2) for the C engine."""