diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f92e03a..3ba2e3e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -104,7 +104,9 @@ The following optional dependencies are available:
 - `fp8-infer`: `torchao` package for fp8 inference
 - `gptq`: `GPTQModel` package for W4A16 quantization
 - `mx`: `microxcaling` package for MX quantization
-- `opt`: Shortcut for `fp8`, `gptq`, and `mx` installs
+- `data`: `datasets` package for loading calibration data (required by `fms_mo.run_quant` and direct quantization)
+- `launcher`: `accelerate` package for the multi-GPU launcher in `build/`
+- `opt`: Shortcut for `fp8`, `gptq`, `mx`, `data`, and `launcher` installs
 - `aiu`: `ibm-fms` package for AIU model deployment
 - `torchvision`: `torch` package for image recognition training and inference
 - `triton`: `triton` package for matrix multiplication kernels
diff --git a/fms_mo/dq.py b/fms_mo/dq.py
index e7d644a..d4598c0 100644
--- a/fms_mo/dq.py
+++ b/fms_mo/dq.py
@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@
 import logging
 
 # Third Party
-from datasets import load_from_disk
 from torch.utils.data import DataLoader
 from tqdm import tqdm
 from transformers import (
@@ -51,6 +50,15 @@
 from fms_mo.utils.eval_utils import Evaluator, eval_llm_1GPU
 from fms_mo.utils.utils import patch_torch_bmm, prepare_input
 
+try:
+    # Third Party
+    from datasets import load_from_disk
+except ImportError as e:
+    raise ImportError(
+        "The `datasets` package is required for data loading. Install it with "
+        "`pip install fms-model-optimizer[data]`."
+    ) from e
+
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
diff --git a/fms_mo/run_quant.py b/fms_mo/run_quant.py
index 4521dca..abc9184 100644
--- a/fms_mo/run_quant.py
+++ b/fms_mo/run_quant.py
@@ -33,7 +33,6 @@
 import traceback
 
 # Third Party
-from datasets import load_from_disk
 from torch.cuda import OutOfMemoryError
 from transformers import (
     AutoModelForMaskedLM,
@@ -62,6 +61,15 @@
 from fms_mo.utils.import_utils import available_packages
 from fms_mo.utils.logging_utils import set_log_level
 
+try:
+    # Third Party
+    from datasets import load_from_disk
+except ImportError as e:
+    raise ImportError(
+        "The `datasets` package is required for data loading. Install it with "
+        "`pip install fms-model-optimizer[data]`."
+    ) from e
+
 
 def quantize(
     model_args: ModelArguments,
diff --git a/fms_mo/utils/calib_data.py b/fms_mo/utils/calib_data.py
index a61d3a7..ccc0fe5 100755
--- a/fms_mo/utils/calib_data.py
+++ b/fms_mo/utils/calib_data.py
@@ -25,11 +25,19 @@
 import random
 
 # Third Party
-from datasets import load_dataset, load_from_disk
 from transformers import AutoTokenizer, BatchEncoding
-import datasets
 import torch
 
+try:
+    # Third Party
+    from datasets import load_dataset, load_from_disk
+    import datasets
+except ImportError as e:
+    raise ImportError(
+        "The `datasets` package is required for data loading. Install it with "
+        "`pip install fms-model-optimizer[data]`."
+    ) from e
+
 
 def return_tokenized_samples(nsamples, trainenc, seqlen, sequential=False):
     """Randomly crop nsamples sequence from trainenc, each with the length of seqlen.
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 6190d2b..6f6f37a 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -23,30 +23,32 @@ classifiers=[
 dynamic = ["version"]
 dependencies = [
 "numpy>=1.26.4,<2.3.0",
-"accelerate>=0.20.3,!=0.34,<1.11",
 "transformers>4.45,<=5.12.1",
 "torch>=2.2.0,<2.12.0",
 "tqdm>=4.66.2,<5.0",
-"datasets>=3.0.0,<5.0",
 "pandas",
 "safetensors",
 "pkginfo>1.10"
 ]
 
 [project.optional-dependencies]
-examples = ["ninja>=1.11.1.1,<2.0", "evaluate", "huggingface_hub"]
+# data loading for the quantization pipeline (run_quant, dq, calib_data)
+data = ["datasets>=3.0.0,<5.0"]
+# multi-GPU launcher (build/accelerate_launch.py) and examples
+launcher = ["accelerate>=0.20.3,!=0.34,<1.11"]
+examples = ["ninja>=1.11.1.1,<2.0", "evaluate", "huggingface_hub", "fms-model-optimizer[data, launcher]"]
 fp8 = ["llmcompressor", "torchao==0.11"]  # FP8 matmul on CPU needs a fix before advancing torchao > 0.11
 fp8-infer = ["torchao==0.11"]
 gptq = ["Cython", "gptqmodel>=1.7.3"]
 mx = ["microxcaling>=1.1"]
-opt = ["fms-model-optimizer[fp8, gptq, mx]"]
+opt = ["fms-model-optimizer[fp8, gptq, mx, data, launcher]"]
 aiu = ["ibm-fms>=0.0.8"]
 torchvision = ["torchvision>=0.17"]
 flash-attn = ["flash-attn>=2.5.3,<3.0"]
 triton = ["triton>=3.0,<3.5"]
 visualize = ["matplotlib", "graphviz", "pygraphviz", "tensorboard", "notebook"]
 dev = ["pre-commit>=3.0.4,<5.0"]
-test = ["pytest", "pillow"]
+test = ["pytest", "pillow", "fms-model-optimizer[data, launcher]"]
 
 [project.urls]
 homepage = "https://github.com/foundation-model-stack/fms-model-optimizer"