diff --git a/icu4c/source/data/Makefile.in b/icu4c/source/data/Makefile.in
index 1140b69a8e3..688bcae3f15 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/data/Makefile.in
+++ b/icu4c/source/data/Makefile.in
@@ -366,7 +366,7 @@ MSC_SRC_FILES=$(MSC_SOURCE:%=$(MISCSRCDIR)/%)
 ifeq ($(ENABLE_SO_VERSION_DATA),1)
 ifeq ($(PKGDATA_MODE),dll)
 SO_VERSION_DATA = $(OUTTMPDIR)/icudata.res
-$(SO_VERSION_DATA) : $(MISCSRCDIR)/icudata.rc
+$(SO_VERSION_DATA) : $(MISCSRCDIR)/icudata.rc | build-dir
 ifeq ($(MSYS_RC_MODE),1)
 	rc.exe -i$(srcdir)/../common -i$(top_builddir)/common -fo$@ $(CPPFLAGS) $<
 else