diff --git a/llmfoundry/models/mpt/modeling_mpt.py b/llmfoundry/models/mpt/modeling_mpt.py
index 10c042d27c..274c1b76e5 100644
--- a/llmfoundry/models/mpt/modeling_mpt.py
+++ b/llmfoundry/models/mpt/modeling_mpt.py
@@ -45,7 +45,9 @@
 from transformers.models.llama.modeling_llama import \
     LlamaRotaryEmbedding as HFRotaryEmbedding
 
-from llmfoundry.models.layers.attention import attn_bias_shape, build_attn_bias
+from llmfoundry.models.layers.attention import (ATTN_CLASS_REGISTRY,
+                                                attn_bias_shape,
+                                                build_attn_bias)
 from llmfoundry.models.layers.blocks import MPTBlock
 from llmfoundry.models.layers.custom_embedding import SharedEmbedding
 from llmfoundry.models.layers.fc import FC_CLASS_REGISTRY as FC_CLASS_REGISTRY
@@ -733,7 +735,35 @@ def fsdp_wrap_fn(self, module: nn.Module) -> bool:
 
     # Activation Checkpointing
     def activation_checkpointing_fn(self, module: nn.Module) -> bool:
-        return isinstance(module, MPTBlock)
+        act_ckpt_list = getattr(self.config, 'activation_checkpointing_target',
+                                None) or ['MPTBlock']
+
+        if 'MPTBlock' in act_ckpt_list or 'mptblock' in act_ckpt_list:
+            if len(act_ckpt_list) > 1:
+                log.info(
+                    'Activation checkpointing MPTBlock only (ignoring other sub-block modules specified in activation_checkpointing_target).'
+                )
+            return isinstance(module, MPTBlock)
+
+        mod_types = ()
+        for mod_name in act_ckpt_list:
+            if mod_name.lower() == 'mptblock':
+                mod_types += (MPTBlock,)
+            elif mod_name in ATTN_CLASS_REGISTRY:
+                mod_types += (ATTN_CLASS_REGISTRY[mod_name],)
+            elif mod_name in FFN_CLASS_REGISTRY:
+                mod_types += (FFN_CLASS_REGISTRY[mod_name],)
+            elif mod_name in NORM_CLASS_REGISTRY:
+                mod_types += (NORM_CLASS_REGISTRY[mod_name],)
+            else:
+                msg = ', '.join(
+                    list(ATTN_CLASS_REGISTRY.keys()) +
+                    list(FFN_CLASS_REGISTRY.keys()) +
+                    list(NORM_CLASS_REGISTRY.keys()) + ['MPTBlock'])
+                raise ValueError(
+                    f'{mod_name} (specified in activation_checkpointing_target) is not a recognized option out of available options {msg}.'
+                )
+        return isinstance(module, mod_types)
 
     def prepare_inputs_for_generation(
         self,
diff --git a/tests/test_fsdp_act_checkpoint.py b/tests/test_fsdp_act_checkpoint.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1a46fcbccd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_fsdp_act_checkpoint.py
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+# Copyright 2022 MosaicML LLM Foundry authors
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+import pytest
+from composer import Trainer
+from composer.utils import get_device
+from omegaconf import OmegaConf as om
+from torch.distributed.algorithms._checkpoint.checkpoint_wrapper import \
+    CheckpointWrapper
+
+from llmfoundry.models.mpt.modeling_mpt import ComposerMPTCausalLM
+
+
+@pytest.mark.world_size(2)
+@pytest.mark.gpu
+@pytest.mark.parametrize('activation_checkpointing', [True, False])
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    'activation_checkpointing_target',
+    [[], ['grouped_query_attention'], ['mptblock', 'grouped_query_attention']])
+def test_fsdp_act_checkpoint(activation_checkpointing: bool,
+                             activation_checkpointing_target: list):
+    device = get_device('gpu')
+    model_cfg = {
+        'name': 'mpt_causal_lm',
+        'd_model': 128,
+        'n_heads': 4,
+        'n_layers': 2,
+        'expansion_ratio': 1,
+        'max_seq_len': 16,
+        'vocab_size': 50368,
+        'attn_config': {
+            'attn_type': 'grouped_query_attention',
+            'kv_n_heads': 2,
+        },
+        'activation_checkpointing_target': activation_checkpointing_target
+    }
+    model_cfg = om.create(model_cfg)
+
+    fsdp_config = {
+        'activation_checkpointing': activation_checkpointing,
+        'activation_checkpointing_reentrant': False,
+        'activation_cpu_offload': False,
+    }
+
+    model = ComposerMPTCausalLM(model_cfg)
+    model = device.module_to_device(model)
+
+    trainer = Trainer(
+        model=model,
+        device='gpu',
+        fsdp_config=fsdp_config,
+    )
+
+    assert trainer.state.fsdp_enabled
+    if not activation_checkpointing:
+        assert not isinstance(
+            trainer.state.model.model._fsdp_wrapped_module.transformer.
+            blocks[0], CheckpointWrapper)
+    elif (not activation_checkpointing_target
+         ) or activation_checkpointing_target == [
+             'mptblock', 'grouped_query_attention'
+         ]:
+        assert isinstance(
+            trainer.state.model.model._fsdp_wrapped_module.transformer.
+            blocks[0]._fsdp_wrapped_module, CheckpointWrapper)
+    elif activation_checkpointing_target == ['grouped_query_attention']:
+        assert isinstance(
+            trainer.state.model.model._fsdp_wrapped_module.transformer.
+            blocks[0]._fsdp_wrapped_module.attn, CheckpointWrapper)
+    else:
+        raise ValueError(
+            f'Unknown activation_checkpointing_target: {activation_checkpointing_target}'
+        )