@@ -546,8 +546,6 @@ const { toError } = ErrorHelpers;
 /** @type {AssetInfo} */
 const EMPTY_ASSET_INFO = Object.freeze({});
 
-const esmDependencyCategory = "esm";
-
 // TODO in the next major release: remove
 const deprecatedNormalModuleLoaderHook = util.deprecate(
 	/**
@@ -2197,7 +2195,7 @@ BREAKING CHANGE: Asset processing hooks in Compilation has been merged into a si
 				// mostly esm dependencies would be used
 				// so we don't allocate extra string for them
 				const cacheKey =
-					category === esmDependencyCategory
+					category === Dependency.ESM_CATEGORY
 						? resourceIdent
 						: `${category}${resourceIdent}`;
 				let list = /** @type {FactoryCacheValue} */ (factoryCacheValue).get(
 
@@ -120,6 +120,12 @@ const LAZY_UNTIL_ID = /** @type {"id"} */ ("id");
 const LAZY_UNTIL_FALLBACK = /** @type {"*"} */ ("*");
 const LAZY_UNTIL_REQUEST = /** @type {"@"} */ ("@");
 
+/**
+ * The category used by dependencies created from ECMAScript module syntax.
+ * @type {"esm"}
+ */
+const ESM_CATEGORY = "esm";
+
 const TRANSITIVE = /** @type {symbol} */ (Symbol("transitive"));
 
 const getIgnoredModule = memoize(() => {
@@ -554,5 +560,6 @@ Dependency.LAZY_UNTIL_LOCAL = LAZY_UNTIL_LOCAL;
 Dependency.LAZY_UNTIL_ID = LAZY_UNTIL_ID;
 Dependency.LAZY_UNTIL_FALLBACK = LAZY_UNTIL_FALLBACK;
 Dependency.LAZY_UNTIL_REQUEST = LAZY_UNTIL_REQUEST;
+Dependency.ESM_CATEGORY = ESM_CATEGORY;
 
 module.exports = Dependency;
@@ -219,8 +219,6 @@ class LazyBarrelInfo {
 	}
 }
 
-const esmDependencyCategory = "esm";
-
 /**
  * Owns the per side-effect-free module lazy barrel state for a `Compilation`,
  * keeping the deferral bookkeeping out of `Compilation` itself.
@@ -326,7 +324,7 @@ class LazyBarrelController {
 			const category = dep.category;
 			// Match the request grouping key of `processDependencyForResolving`
 			const requestKey =
-				category === esmDependencyCategory
+				category === Dependency.ESM_CATEGORY
 					? resourceIdent
 					: `${category}${resourceIdent}`;
 			if (info === undefined) info = new LazyBarrelInfo();
@@ -351,7 +349,7 @@ class LazyBarrelController {
 					"getLazyUntil" in dep &&
 					(dep.getLazyUntil() === null ||
 						dep.getLazyUntil() === Dependency.LAZY_UNTIL_REQUEST) &&
-					dep.category === esmDependencyCategory &&
+					dep.category === Dependency.ESM_CATEGORY &&
 					"setLazy" in dep &&
 					dep.getResourceIdentifier() !== null
 				) {
 
@@ -5109,6 +5109,7 @@ declare class ConstDependency extends NullDependency {
 	static LAZY_UNTIL_ID: "id";
 	static LAZY_UNTIL_FALLBACK: "*";
 	static LAZY_UNTIL_REQUEST: "@";
+	static ESM_CATEGORY: "esm";
 }
 declare class ConstDependencyTemplate extends NullDependencyTemplate {
 	constructor();
@@ -6917,6 +6918,7 @@ declare class Dependency {
 	static LAZY_UNTIL_ID: "id";
 	static LAZY_UNTIL_FALLBACK: "*";
 	static LAZY_UNTIL_REQUEST: "@";
+	static ESM_CATEGORY: "esm";
 }
 declare interface DependencyConstructor {
 	new (...args: any[]): Dependency;
@@ -7652,6 +7654,7 @@ declare class ESMImportDependency extends ModuleDependency {
 	static LAZY_UNTIL_ID: "id";
 	static LAZY_UNTIL_FALLBACK: "*";
 	static LAZY_UNTIL_REQUEST: "@";
+	static ESM_CATEGORY: "esm";
 }
 declare abstract class ESMImportSideEffectDependency extends ESMImportDependency {
 	unusedSpecifiers?: UnusedSpecifiers;
@@ -18036,6 +18039,7 @@ declare class ModuleDependency extends Dependency {
 	static LAZY_UNTIL_ID: "id";
 	static LAZY_UNTIL_FALLBACK: "*";
 	static LAZY_UNTIL_REQUEST: "@";
+	static ESM_CATEGORY: "esm";
 }
 
 /**
@@ -20410,6 +20414,7 @@ declare class NullDependency extends Dependency {
 	static LAZY_UNTIL_ID: "id";
 	static LAZY_UNTIL_FALLBACK: "*";
 	static LAZY_UNTIL_REQUEST: "@";
+	static ESM_CATEGORY: "esm";
 }
 declare class NullDependencyTemplate extends DependencyTemplate {
 	constructor();