diff --git a/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/sys-apps/systemd/systemd-9999.ebuild b/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/sys-apps/systemd/systemd-9999.ebuild
index 0863aecf35..892e186242 100644
--- a/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/sys-apps/systemd/systemd-9999.ebuild
+++ b/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/sys-apps/systemd/systemd-9999.ebuild
@@ -379,7 +379,9 @@ multilib_src_install_all() {
 		rmdir "${ED}${rootprefix}"/sbin || die
 	fi
 
-	rm -r "${ED}${rootprefix}"/lib/udev/hwdb.d || die
+	if use hwdb; then
+		rm -r "${ED}${rootprefix}"/lib/udev/hwdb.d || die
+	fi
 
 	# Flatcar: Upstream uses keepdir commands to keep some empty
 	# directories.