diff --git a/include/internal/common.h b/include/internal/common.h
index 1ae2786..f11e9ca 100644
--- a/include/internal/common.h
+++ b/include/internal/common.h
@@ -129,6 +129,8 @@ struct cudecompCommInfo {
   nvshmem_team_t nvshmem_team = NVSHMEM_TEAM_INVALID;
   uint64_t* nvshmem_signals = nullptr;
 #endif
+
+  bool mnnvl_active = false; // flag to indicate whether communicator has MNNVL connections
 };
 
 // Structure to contain data for transpose performance sample
@@ -349,6 +351,23 @@ static void setCommInfo(cudecompHandle_t& handle, cudecompGridDesc_t& grid_desc,
         if (count != e.second) { count = gcd(count, e.second); }
       }
     }
+
+    // Check if any cliques contain multiple nodes (i.e. there are MNNVL connections in this communicator)
+    std::map<unsigned int, std::string> clique_to_hostname;
+    for (int i = 0; i < info.nranks; ++i) {
+      int peer_rank_global = getGlobalRank(handle, grid_desc, comm_axis, i);
+      unsigned int clique = handle->rank_to_clique[peer_rank_global];
+      std::string hostname = std::string(handle->hostnames[peer_rank_global].data());
+      if (clique_to_hostname.count(clique)) {
+        if (clique_to_hostname[clique] != hostname) {
+          // Multiple hostnames in clique detected, MNNVL connections are present
+          info.mnnvl_active = true;
+          break;
+        }
+      } else {
+        clique_to_hostname[clique] = hostname;
+      }
+    }
   }
 
   info.npergroup = count;
diff --git a/include/internal/halo.h b/include/internal/halo.h
index 4aaada0..a37a3dc 100644
--- a/include/internal/halo.h
+++ b/include/internal/halo.h
@@ -80,6 +80,17 @@ void cudecompUpdateHalos_(int ax, const cudecompHandle_t handle, const cudecompG
     CHECK_CUDA(cudaEventRecord(current_sample->halo_start_event, stream));
   }
 
+  int count = 0;
+  for (int i = 0; i < 3; ++i) {
+    if (i == ax) continue;
+    if (i == dim) break;
+    count++;
+  }
+
+  auto comm_axis = (count == 0) ? CUDECOMP_COMM_COL : CUDECOMP_COMM_ROW;
+  int comm_rank = (comm_axis == CUDECOMP_COMM_COL) ? grid_desc->col_comm_info.rank : grid_desc->row_comm_info.rank;
+  auto& comm_info = (comm_axis == CUDECOMP_COMM_COL) ? grid_desc->col_comm_info : grid_desc->row_comm_info;
+
   // Select correct case based on pencil memory order and transfer dim
   int c;
   if (dim != pinfo_h.order[0] && dim != pinfo_h.order[1]) {
@@ -103,16 +114,6 @@ void cudecompUpdateHalos_(int ax, const cudecompHandle_t handle, const cudecompG
     return;
   } else {
     // For multi-rank cases, check if halos include ranks other than nearest neighbor process (unsupported currently).
-    int count = 0;
-    for (int i = 0; i < 3; ++i) {
-      if (i == ax) continue;
-      if (i == dim) break;
-      count++;
-    }
-
-    auto comm_axis = (count == 0) ? CUDECOMP_COMM_COL : CUDECOMP_COMM_ROW;
-    int comm_rank = (comm_axis == CUDECOMP_COMM_COL) ? grid_desc->col_comm_info.rank : grid_desc->row_comm_info.rank;
-
     auto splits =
         getSplits(grid_desc->config.gdims_dist[dim], grid_desc->config.pdims[comm_axis == CUDECOMP_COMM_COL ? 0 : 1],
                   grid_desc->config.gdims[dim] - grid_desc->config.gdims_dist[dim]);
@@ -143,9 +144,12 @@ void cudecompUpdateHalos_(int ax, const cudecompHandle_t handle, const cudecompG
   bool input_has_padding = anyNonzeros(padding);
 
   if (c == 2 && (input_has_padding || haloBackendRequiresNvshmem(grid_desc->config.halo_comm_backend) ||
-                 (managed && haloBackendRequiresMpi(grid_desc->config.halo_comm_backend)))) {
+                 (managed && haloBackendRequiresMpi(grid_desc->config.halo_comm_backend)) ||
+                 (handle->cuda_cumem_enable && comm_info.mnnvl_active &&
+                  haloBackendRequiresMpi(grid_desc->config.halo_comm_backend)))) {
     // For padded input, always stage to work space.
     // For managed memory, always stage to work space if using MPI.
+    // If using MPI and communicator has MNNVL connections, stage to work space if fabric-allocated.
     // For any memory, always stage to workspace if using NVSHMEM.
     // Can revisit for NVSHMEM if input is NVSHMEM allocated.
     c = 1;
diff --git a/include/internal/transpose.h b/include/internal/transpose.h
index c10ee3c..84cbe77 100644
--- a/include/internal/transpose.h
+++ b/include/internal/transpose.h
@@ -327,11 +327,16 @@ static void cudecompTranspose_(int ax, int dir, const cudecompHandle_t handle, c
       // in to workspace (which should be nvshmem allocated). Can revisit support for input/output
       // arrays allocated with nvshmem.
       enable = false;
-    } else if (transposeBackendRequiresMpi(grid_desc->config.transpose_comm_backend) &&
-               (isManagedPointer(input) || isManagedPointer(output))) {
+    } else if (transposeBackendRequiresMpi(grid_desc->config.transpose_comm_backend)) {
       // Note: For MPI, disable special cases if input or output pointers are to managed memory
       // since MPI performance directly from managed memory is not great
-      enable = false;
+      if (isManagedPointer(input) || isManagedPointer(output)) { enable = false; }
+
+      // Note: For MPI, disable special cases if communicator has an MNNVL connection and the workspace
+      // is fabric allocated. This forces MPI comms to always use the fabric allocated workspace
+      // which is more performant.
+      auto& comm_info = (comm_axis == CUDECOMP_COMM_ROW) ? grid_desc->row_comm_info : grid_desc->col_comm_info;
+      if (handle->cuda_cumem_enable && comm_info.mnnvl_active) { enable = false; }
     }
 
     if (enable) {