diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/papi/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/papi/package.py
index b1c869f7bada03..7b22451ae2b357 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/papi/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/papi/package.py
@@ -59,6 +59,12 @@ class Papi(AutotoolsPackage, ROCmPackage):
     variant("cuda", default=False, description="Enable CUDA support")
     variant("nvml", default=False, description="Enable NVML support")
     variant("rocm_smi", default=False, description="Enable ROCm SMI support")
+    variant(
+        "rdpmc",
+        default=True,
+        when="@6.0.0:",
+        description="Enable use of rdpmc for reading counters, when possible",
+    )
 
     variant("shared", default=True, description="Build shared libraries")
     # PAPI requires building static libraries, so there is no "static" variant
@@ -159,6 +165,9 @@ def configure_args(self):
         build_shared = "yes" if "+shared" in spec else "no"
         options.append("--with-shared-lib=" + build_shared)
 
+        build_rdpmc_support = "yes" if "+rdpmc" in spec else "no"
+        options.append("--enable-perfevent-rdpmc=" + build_rdpmc_support)
+
         if "+static_tools" in spec:
             options.append("--with-static-tools")