diff --git a/config/esp32/components/chip/CMakeLists.txt b/config/esp32/components/chip/CMakeLists.txt
index 96095816b999fb..46424f21a01a5d 100644
--- a/config/esp32/components/chip/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/config/esp32/components/chip/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -45,10 +45,19 @@ macro(chip_gn_arg_append arg val)
     string(APPEND chip_gn_args "${arg} = ${val}\n")
 endmacro()
 
+macro(chip_gn_arg_bool arg boolean)
+    if (${boolean})
+        string(APPEND chip_gn_args "${arg} = true\n")
+    else()
+        string(APPEND chip_gn_args "${arg} = false\n")
+    endif()
+endmacro()
+
 chip_gn_arg_append("esp32_ar"              "\"${CMAKE_AR}\"")
 chip_gn_arg_append("esp32_cc"              "\"${CMAKE_C_COMPILER}\"")
 chip_gn_arg_append("esp32_cxx"             "\"${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER}\"")
 chip_gn_arg_append("esp32_cpu"             "\"esp32\"")
+chip_gn_arg_bool("is_debug"                is_debug)
 
 if(CONFIG_ENABLE_PW_RPC)
     chip_gn_arg_append("chip_build_pw_rpc_lib"              "true")
diff --git a/examples/temperature-measurement-app/esp32/CMakeLists.txt b/examples/temperature-measurement-app/esp32/CMakeLists.txt
index e1a94d2e4c3969..c72b7a3935dd4c 100644
--- a/examples/temperature-measurement-app/esp32/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/examples/temperature-measurement-app/esp32/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -17,6 +17,12 @@
 # The following lines of boilerplate have to be in your project's
 # CMakeLists in this exact order for cmake to work correctly
 cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.5)
+
+set(is_debug true CACHE BOOL "Optimization variable")
+if(NOT is_debug)
+    set(SDKCONFIG_DEFAULTS "sdkconfig.optimize.defaults")
+endif()
+
 include($ENV{IDF_PATH}/tools/cmake/project.cmake)
 
 # The list of extra component dirs must be in sync with that in temperature-measurement-app/esp32/Makefile
diff --git a/examples/temperature-measurement-app/esp32/README.md b/examples/temperature-measurement-app/esp32/README.md
index 02b385a398c5b6..206033d6a40987 100644
--- a/examples/temperature-measurement-app/esp32/README.md
+++ b/examples/temperature-measurement-app/esp32/README.md
@@ -135,5 +135,5 @@ Optimization related to WiFi, BLuetooth, Asserts etc are the part of this
 example by default. To enable this option set is_debug=false from command-line.
 
 ```
-idf make build flash monitor 'is_debug=false'
+idf.py -Dis_debug=false build flash monitor
 ```