diff --git a/c/Makefile b/c/Makefile
index f98e541..66a290b 100644
--- a/c/Makefile
+++ b/c/Makefile
@@ -31,6 +31,13 @@ PPC64   := $(findstring ppc64,$(UNAME_M))
 endif
 endif
 
+TARGET_CPU := $(firstword $(subst -, ,$(TRIPLET)))
+ifeq ($(TARGET_CPU),)
+TARGET_CPU := $(UNAME_M)
+endif
+X86_64  := $(filter x86_64 amd64,$(TARGET_CPU))
+AARCH64 := $(filter aarch64 arm64,$(TARGET_CPU))
+
 ifneq (,$(DARWIN))
 # --- macOS / Apple Silicon ---
 # Apple clang non include il runtime OpenMP: se c'e' libomp di Homebrew lo usa
@@ -38,7 +45,9 @@ ifneq (,$(DARWIN))
 # Niente -march: su arm64 NEON e' baseline (i kernel __ARM_NEON si attivano da soli).
 CC      = clang
 OMPDIR := $(shell brew --prefix libomp 2>/dev/null)
-ifneq ($(OMPDIR),)
+# `brew --prefix libomp` can print the formula's prospective path even when it
+# is not installed, so verify both artifacts before adding unusable flags.
+ifneq ($(and $(wildcard $(OMPDIR)/include/omp.h),$(wildcard $(OMPDIR)/lib/libomp.*)),)
 OMPC    = -Xclang -fopenmp -I$(OMPDIR)/include
 OMPL    = -L$(OMPDIR)/lib -lomp
 else
@@ -247,9 +256,23 @@ cuda-bench: backend_cuda.cu backend_cuda.h tests/bench_tensor_core.cu
 olmoe$(EXE): olmoe.c st.h json.h compat.h
 	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) olmoe.c -o olmoe$(EXE) $(LDFLAGS)
 
-# binario portabile da distribuire su altre macchine x86-64
+# Use a baseline that matches the compiler target. macOS already targets a
+# portable baseline when ARCH is empty; forcing the x86 value there breaks
+# Apple Silicon. Unknown targets use native rather than an invalid x86 flag.
+ifneq (,$(DARWIN))
+PORTABLE_ARCH =
+else ifneq (,$(AARCH64))
+PORTABLE_ARCH = armv8-a
+else ifneq (,$(PPC64))
+PORTABLE_ARCH = power8
+else ifneq (,$(X86_64))
+PORTABLE_ARCH = x86-64-v3
+else
+PORTABLE_ARCH = native
+endif
+
 portable:
-	$(MAKE) glm$(EXE) ARCH=x86-64-v3
+	$(MAKE) glm$(EXE) ARCH=$(PORTABLE_ARCH)
 
 iobench$(EXE): iobench.c compat.h
 	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) iobench.c -o iobench$(EXE) $(LDFLAGS)
diff --git a/c/tests/test_makefile_platform.py b/c/tests/test_makefile_platform.py
index 5b8c558..4ca4efc 100644
--- a/c/tests/test_makefile_platform.py
+++ b/c/tests/test_makefile_platform.py
@@ -11,6 +11,24 @@ MAKE = shutil.which("make")
 
 @unittest.skipUnless(MAKE, "make is required")
 class MakefilePlatformTests(unittest.TestCase):
+    def _dry_run(self, target, triplet, **variables):
+        args = [
+            MAKE,
+            "--no-print-directory",
+            "-B",
+            "-n",
+            target,
+            f"TRIPLET={triplet}",
+        ]
+        args.extend(f"{name}={value}" for name, value in variables.items())
+        return subprocess.run(
+            args,
+            cwd=C_DIR,
+            text=True,
+            capture_output=True,
+            check=True,
+        )
+
     def test_windows_nt_without_uname_selects_mingw_build(self):
         env = os.environ.copy()
         env["OS"] = "Windows_NT"
@@ -29,6 +47,29 @@ class MakefilePlatformTests(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertIn("-fopenmp", result.stdout)
         self.assertIn("-static", result.stdout)
 
+    def test_portable_build_uses_target_architecture(self):
+        cases = (
+            ("x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu", "-march=x86-64-v3"),
+            ("aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu", "-march=armv8-a"),
+            ("powerpc64le-unknown-linux-gnu", "-mcpu=power8"),
+        )
+
+        for triplet, expected_flag in cases:
+            with self.subTest(triplet=triplet):
+                result = self._dry_run("portable", triplet)
+                self.assertIn(expected_flag, result.stdout)
+
+    def test_darwin_portable_build_does_not_force_x86_architecture(self):
+        missing_libomp = "/colibri-test/missing-libomp"
+        result = self._dry_run(
+            "portable", "arm64-apple-darwin", OMPDIR=missing_libomp
+        )
+
+        self.assertIn("clang -O3", result.stdout)
+        self.assertNotIn("-mcpu=x86-64-v3", result.stdout)
+        self.assertNotIn(missing_libomp, result.stdout)
+        self.assertNotIn("-fopenmp", result.stdout)
+
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     unittest.main()