diff --git a/tools/osbuilder/rootfs-builder/rootfs.sh b/tools/osbuilder/rootfs-builder/rootfs.sh
index b6cae53da9..0a37cf5210 100755
--- a/tools/osbuilder/rootfs-builder/rootfs.sh
+++ b/tools/osbuilder/rootfs-builder/rootfs.sh
@@ -502,6 +502,39 @@ prepare_overlay()
 	popd  > /dev/null
 }
 
+build_opa_from_source()
+{
+	local opa_repo_url=$1
+	opa_version="$(get_package_version_from_kata_yaml externals.open-policy-agent.version)"
+
+	if [ ${CROSS_BUILD} == "yes" ]; then
+		export GOOS="${TARGET_OS}"
+		export GOARCH="${TARGET_ARCH}}"
+	fi
+
+	current_dir="$(pwd)"
+	pushd $(mktemp -d) &>/dev/null
+	git clone -b "${opa_version}" "${opa_repo_url}" opa || return 1
+	(
+		cd opa
+		export WASM_ENABLED=0
+		export DOCKER_RUNNING=0
+		make ci-go-ci-build-linux-static || return 1
+
+		info "Copy OPA binary to ${current_dir}/opa"
+		binary_name="_release/${opa_version##v}/opa_${GOOS}_${GOARCH}_static"
+		if [ -f "${binary_name}" ]; then
+			cp "${binary_name}" "${current_dir}/opa"
+		else
+			echo "OPA binary ${binary_name} not found"
+			return 1
+		fi
+	)
+	rm -rf opa
+	popd &>/dev/null
+	return 0
+}
+
 # Setup an existing rootfs directory, based on the OPTIONAL distro name
 # provided as argument
 setup_rootfs()
@@ -667,9 +700,15 @@ EOF
 			#   	OPA should be built from the cached source code instead of downloading
 			#   	this binary.
 			#
-			opa_bin_url="$(get_package_version_from_kata_yaml externals.open-policy-agent.meta.binary)"
-			info "Downloading OPA binary from ${opa_bin_url}"
-			curl --fail -L "${opa_bin_url}" -o opa || die "Failed to download OPA"
+			if [ "$ARCH" == "ppc64le" ] || [ "$ARCH" == "s390x" ]; then
+				opa_repo_url="$(get_package_version_from_kata_yaml externals.open-policy-agent.url)"
+				info "Building OPA binary from source at ${opa_repo_url}"
+				build_opa_from_source "${opa_repo_url}" || die "Failed to build OPA"
+			else
+				opa_bin_url="$(get_package_version_from_kata_yaml externals.open-policy-agent.meta.binary)"
+				info "Downloading OPA binary from ${opa_bin_url}"
+				curl --fail -L "${opa_bin_url}" -o opa || die "Failed to download OPA"
+			fi
 
 			# Install the OPA binary.
 			opa_bin_dir="/usr/local/bin"