diff --git a/packages/js/src/generators/typescript-sync/typescript-sync.spec.ts b/packages/js/src/generators/typescript-sync/typescript-sync.spec.ts
index 06fad1035d94e..97ea3b33f5720 100644
--- a/packages/js/src/generators/typescript-sync/typescript-sync.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/js/src/generators/typescript-sync/typescript-sync.spec.ts
@@ -659,6 +659,53 @@ describe('syncGenerator()', () => {
       `);
     });
 
+    it('should not add a reference if dependent project does not have a tsconfig files', async () => {
+      addProject('foo', ['bar'], ['tsconfig.lib.json']);
+      addProject('bar');
+      tree.delete('packages/bar/tsconfig.json');
+
+      await syncGenerator(tree);
+
+      expect(tree.read('tsconfig.json').toString('utf-8'))
+        .toMatchInlineSnapshot(`
+        "{
+          "compilerOptions": {
+            "composite": true
+          },
+          "references": [
+            {
+              "path": "./packages/a"
+            },
+            {
+              "path": "./packages/b"
+            },
+            {
+              "path": "./packages/foo"
+            }
+          ]
+        }
+        "
+      `);
+      expect(tree.read('packages/foo/tsconfig.json').toString('utf-8'))
+        .toMatchInlineSnapshot(`
+        "{
+          "compilerOptions": {
+            "composite": true
+          }
+        }
+        "
+      `);
+      expect(tree.read('packages/foo/tsconfig.lib.json').toString('utf-8'))
+        .toMatchInlineSnapshot(`
+        "{
+          "compilerOptions": {
+            "composite": true
+          }
+        }
+        "
+      `);
+    });
+
     describe('without custom sync generator options', () => {
       it.each`
         runtimeTsConfigFileName
diff --git a/packages/js/src/generators/typescript-sync/typescript-sync.ts b/packages/js/src/generators/typescript-sync/typescript-sync.ts
index 751751ae63a1d..b3fbd9a5ebdb8 100644
--- a/packages/js/src/generators/typescript-sync/typescript-sync.ts
+++ b/packages/js/src/generators/typescript-sync/typescript-sync.ts
@@ -372,8 +372,9 @@ function updateTsConfigReferences(
 
   let hasChanges = false;
   for (const dep of dependencies) {
-    // Ensure the project reference for the target is set
-    let referencePath = dep.data.root;
+    // Ensure the project reference for the target is set if we can find the
+    // relevant tsconfig file
+    let referencePath: string;
     if (runtimeTsConfigFileName) {
       const runtimeTsConfigPath = joinPathFragments(
         dep.data.root,
@@ -434,6 +435,19 @@ function updateTsConfigReferences(
         continue;
       }
     }
+    if (!referencePath) {
+      if (
+        tsconfigExists(
+          tree,
+          tsconfigInfoCaches,
+          joinPathFragments(dep.data.root, 'tsconfig.json')
+        )
+      ) {
+        referencePath = dep.data.root;
+      } else {
+        continue;
+      }
+    }
     const relativePathToTargetRoot = relative(projectRoot, referencePath);
     if (!newReferencesSet.has(relativePathToTargetRoot)) {
       newReferencesSet.add(relativePathToTargetRoot);