diff --git a/cmd/kube-controller-manager/app/controllermanager.go b/cmd/kube-controller-manager/app/controllermanager.go
index e0ebfc9dbba..daa20207270 100644
--- a/cmd/kube-controller-manager/app/controllermanager.go
+++ b/cmd/kube-controller-manager/app/controllermanager.go
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 
+	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/meta"
 	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime/schema"
 	utilruntime "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/runtime"
@@ -524,11 +525,19 @@ func GetAvailableResources(clientBuilder clientbuilder.ControllerClientBuilder)
 // controllers such as the cloud provider and clientBuilder. rootClientBuilder is only used for
 // the shared-informers client and token controller.
 func CreateControllerContext(logger klog.Logger, s *config.CompletedConfig, rootClientBuilder, clientBuilder clientbuilder.ControllerClientBuilder, stop <-chan struct{}) (ControllerContext, error) {
+	// Informer transform to trim ManagedFields for memory efficiency.
+	trim := func(obj interface{}) (interface{}, error) {
+		if accessor, err := meta.Accessor(obj); err == nil {
+			accessor.SetManagedFields(nil)
+		}
+		return obj, nil
+	}
+
 	versionedClient := rootClientBuilder.ClientOrDie("shared-informers")
-	sharedInformers := informers.NewSharedInformerFactory(versionedClient, ResyncPeriod(s)())
+	sharedInformers := informers.NewSharedInformerFactoryWithOptions(versionedClient, ResyncPeriod(s)(), informers.WithTransform(trim))
 
 	metadataClient := metadata.NewForConfigOrDie(rootClientBuilder.ConfigOrDie("metadata-informers"))
-	metadataInformers := metadatainformer.NewSharedInformerFactory(metadataClient, ResyncPeriod(s)())
+	metadataInformers := metadatainformer.NewSharedInformerFactoryWithOptions(metadataClient, ResyncPeriod(s)(), metadatainformer.WithTransform(trim))
 
 	// If apiserver is not running we should wait for some time and fail only then. This is particularly
 	// important when we start apiserver and controller manager at the same time.