diff --git a/build/build-image/Dockerfile b/build/build-image/Dockerfile
index e37a241de8..57b4300508 100644
--- a/build/build-image/Dockerfile
+++ b/build/build-image/Dockerfile
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ FROM gcr.io/google_containers/kube-cross:KUBE_BUILD_IMAGE_CROSS_TAG
 RUN touch /kube-build-image
 
 # To run as non-root we sometimes need to rebuild go stdlib packages.
-RUN chmod -R a+rwx /usr/local/go/pkg
+RUN chmod -R a+rwx /usr/local/go/pkg ${K8S_PATCHED_GOROOT}/pkg
 
 # For running integration tests /var/run/kubernetes is required
 # and should be writable by user
diff --git a/build/build-image/cross/Dockerfile b/build/build-image/cross/Dockerfile
index 811ee9943e..d2887e9b55 100644
--- a/build/build-image/cross/Dockerfile
+++ b/build/build-image/cross/Dockerfile
@@ -77,3 +77,22 @@ RUN export ETCD_VERSION=v3.0.17; \
   && cd /usr/local/src/etcd \
   && curl -fsSL https://github.com/coreos/etcd/releases/download/${ETCD_VERSION}/etcd-${ETCD_VERSION}-linux-amd64.tar.gz | tar -xz \
   && ln -s ../src/etcd/etcd-${ETCD_VERSION}-linux-amd64/etcd /usr/local/bin/
+
+
+# There is a significant performance regression in Go 1.8 comparing to Go 1.7.
+# Until this is solved in Go itself, we are patching 1.8.1 version of Go to
+# reduce the impact of this regression - for more detailed discussion see:
+# https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/issues/45216
+#
+# TODO: Once this issue is fixed in Go itself, we can get rid of the code below.
+ENV K8S_PATCHED_GOLANG_VERSION=1.8.1 \
+    K8S_PATCHED_GOROOT=/usr/local/go_k8s_patched
+RUN mkdir -p ${K8S_PATCHED_GOROOT} \
+  && curl -sSL https://github.com/golang/go/archive/go${K8S_PATCHED_GOLANG_VERSION}.tar.gz | tar -xz -C ${K8S_PATCHED_GOROOT} --strip-components=1
+
+COPY go_181_performance_fix.patch ${K8S_PATCHED_GOROOT}/
+RUN cd ${K8S_PATCHED_GOROOT} \
+  && patch -p1 < go_181_performance_fix.patch \
+  && cd src \
+  && GOROOT_FINAL=${K8S_PATCHED_GOROOT} GOROOT_BOOTSTRAP=/usr/local/go ./make.bash \
+  && for platform in ${KUBE_CROSSPLATFORMS}; do GOOS=${platform%/*} GOARCH=${platform##*/} GOROOT=${K8S_PATCHED_GOROOT} go install std; done
diff --git a/build/build-image/cross/VERSION b/build/build-image/cross/VERSION
index ddd7b0809a..de541432f1 100644
--- a/build/build-image/cross/VERSION
+++ b/build/build-image/cross/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-v1.8.1-1
+v1.8.1-2
diff --git a/build/build-image/cross/go_181_performance_fix.patch b/build/build-image/cross/go_181_performance_fix.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..64f942937c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build/build-image/cross/go_181_performance_fix.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+diff --git a/src/net/http/h2_bundle.go b/src/net/http/h2_bundle.go
+index 4536b2ff5d..84e78534a9 100644
+--- a/src/net/http/h2_bundle.go
++++ b/src/net/http/h2_bundle.go
+@@ -3536,9 +3536,17 @@ func (sc *http2serverConn) serve() {
+ 		sc.idleTimerCh = sc.idleTimer.C
+ 	}
+ 
+-	var gracefulShutdownCh <-chan struct{}
++	var gracefulShutdownCh chan struct{}
+ 	if sc.hs != nil {
+-		gracefulShutdownCh = http2h1ServerShutdownChan(sc.hs)
++		ch := http2h1ServerShutdownChan(sc.hs)
++		gracefulShutdownCh = make(chan struct{})
++		go func() {
++			select {
++			case <-sc.doneServing:
++			case <-ch:
++				close(gracefulShutdownCh)
++			}
++		}()
+ 	}
+ 
+ 	go sc.readFrames()
diff --git a/hack/lib/golang.sh b/hack/lib/golang.sh
index 3f5f9efbe7..1156f9c516 100755
--- a/hack/lib/golang.sh
+++ b/hack/lib/golang.sh
@@ -267,6 +267,10 @@ kube::golang::set_platform_envs() {
 
   # Do not set CC when building natively on a platform, only if cross-compiling from linux/amd64
   if [[ $(kube::golang::host_platform) == "linux/amd64" ]]; then
+    # We are currently using go 1.8.1, which has significant performance
+    # regression. Until this is fixed in Golang head, we are using patched
+    # version of Go that eliminates this problem.
+    export GOROOT=${K8S_PATCHED_GOROOT:-${GOROOT}}
 
     # Dynamic CGO linking for other server architectures than linux/amd64 goes here
     # If you want to include support for more server platforms than these, add arch-specific gcc names here