diff --git a/build_library/extra_sysexts.sh b/build_library/extra_sysexts.sh
index c52a2f5c4a..a5f175307b 100644
--- a/build_library/extra_sysexts.sh
+++ b/build_library/extra_sysexts.sh
@@ -2,4 +2,6 @@ EXTRA_SYSEXTS=(
   zfs:sys-fs/zfs
   podman:app-containers/podman,net-misc/passt
   python:dev-lang/python,dev-python/pip
+  nvidia-drivers:x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers
+  nvidia-drivers-open:x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers:kernel-open
 )
diff --git a/build_library/prod_image_util.sh b/build_library/prod_image_util.sh
index 1fd94845ca..4171e968f3 100755
--- a/build_library/prod_image_util.sh
+++ b/build_library/prod_image_util.sh
@@ -215,9 +215,16 @@ create_prod_sysexts() {
   local image_name="$1"
   local image_sysext_base="${image_name%.bin}_sysext.squashfs"
   for sysext in "${EXTRA_SYSEXTS[@]}"; do
-    local name="flatcar-${sysext%:*}"
-    local pkgs="${sysext#*:}"
+    local name="flatcar-${sysext%%:*}"
+    local pkgs_and_useflags="${sysext#*:}"
+    local pkgs="${pkgs_and_useflags%%:*}"
     local pkg_array=(${pkgs//,/ })
+    local useflags=""
+    if [[ "$pkgs_and_useflags" == *:* ]]; then
+      useflags="${pkgs_and_useflags#*:}"
+    fi
+    local useflags_array=(${useflags//,/ })
+
     local mangle_script="${BUILD_LIBRARY_DIR}/sysext_mangle_${name}"
     if [[ ! -x "${mangle_script}" ]]; then
       mangle_script=
@@ -225,8 +232,9 @@ create_prod_sysexts() {
     sudo rm -f "${BUILD_DIR}/${name}.raw" \
 	"${BUILD_DIR}/flatcar-test-update-${name}.gz" \
 	"${BUILD_DIR}/${name}_*"
-    sudo "${SCRIPT_ROOT}/build_sysext" --board="${BOARD}" \
-        --squashfs_base="${BUILD_DIR}/${image_sysext_base}" \
+    # we use -E to pass the USE flags, but also MODULES_SIGN variables
+    USE="${useflags_array[@]}" sudo -E "${SCRIPT_ROOT}/build_sysext" --board="${BOARD}" \
+	--squashfs_base="${BUILD_DIR}/${image_sysext_base}" \
 	--image_builddir="${BUILD_DIR}" \
 	${mangle_script:+--manglefs_script=${mangle_script}} \
 	"${name}" "${pkg_array[@]}"
diff --git a/build_sysext b/build_sysext
index ed05390732..e206e0ae2c 100755
--- a/build_sysext
+++ b/build_sysext
@@ -221,12 +221,19 @@ info "Building '${SYSEXTNAME}' squashfs with (meta-)packages '${@}' in '${BUILD_
 
 for package; do
   echo "Installing package into sysext image: $package"
-  FEATURES="-ebuild-locks" emerge \
+  usepkg_flag="--usepkgonly"
+  # if custom USE flags are set, disable using binary packages to force rebuild
+  if [ ! -z "${USE:-}" ]; then
+    usepkg_flag="--usepkg"
+    echo "Disabling binary package install because custom USE flags are set: $USE "
+  fi
+  FEATURES="-ebuild-locks binpkg-multi-instance" emerge \
     --root="${BUILD_DIR}/install-root" \
     --config-root="/build/${FLAGS_board}"  \
     --sysroot="/build/${FLAGS_board}"  \
-    --usepkgonly \
     --getbinpkg \
+    --binpkg-respect-use=y \
+    $usepkg_flag \
     --verbose \
     --jobs=${NUM_JOBS} \
     "${package}"
diff --git a/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/coreos-devel/board-packages/board-packages-0.0.1.ebuild b/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/coreos-devel/board-packages/board-packages-0.0.1.ebuild
index f1a8b24861..d5399a767d 100644
--- a/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/coreos-devel/board-packages/board-packages-0.0.1.ebuild
+++ b/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/coreos-devel/board-packages/board-packages-0.0.1.ebuild
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ RDEPEND="
 	coreos-base/flatcar-eks
 	net-misc/chrony
 	sys-fs/zfs
+	x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers
 	app-containers/podman
 	net-misc/passt
 	dev-lang/python