diff --git a/api/v1beta1/azuremanagedcontrolplane_types.go b/api/v1beta1/azuremanagedcontrolplane_types.go
index 4935d1f8413..28f6fa16317 100644
--- a/api/v1beta1/azuremanagedcontrolplane_types.go
+++ b/api/v1beta1/azuremanagedcontrolplane_types.go
@@ -160,8 +160,7 @@ type AzureManagedControlPlaneSpec struct {
 	LoadBalancerSKU *string `json:"loadBalancerSKU,omitempty"`
 
 	// IdentityRef is a reference to a AzureClusterIdentity to be used when reconciling this cluster
-	// +optional
-	IdentityRef *corev1.ObjectReference `json:"identityRef,omitempty"`
+	IdentityRef *corev1.ObjectReference `json:"identityRef"`
 
 	// AadProfile is Azure Active Directory configuration to integrate with AKS for aad authentication.
 	// +optional
diff --git a/config/crd/bases/infrastructure.cluster.x-k8s.io_azuremanagedcontrolplanes.yaml b/config/crd/bases/infrastructure.cluster.x-k8s.io_azuremanagedcontrolplanes.yaml
index d372ab6cc8e..566e9fd3094 100644
--- a/config/crd/bases/infrastructure.cluster.x-k8s.io_azuremanagedcontrolplanes.yaml
+++ b/config/crd/bases/infrastructure.cluster.x-k8s.io_azuremanagedcontrolplanes.yaml
@@ -568,6 +568,7 @@ spec:
                 - name
                 type: object
             required:
+            - identityRef
             - location
             - resourceGroupName
             - version