diff --git a/build/build-image/cross/VERSION b/build/build-image/cross/VERSION
index ed2ba9288a5..45a29127821 100644
--- a/build/build-image/cross/VERSION
+++ b/build/build-image/cross/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-v1.15.8-1
+v1.16.0-1
diff --git a/build/dependencies.yaml b/build/dependencies.yaml
index 399d182477c..48cd912d9c6 100644
--- a/build/dependencies.yaml
+++ b/build/dependencies.yaml
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ dependencies:
 
   # Golang
   - name: "golang: upstream version"
-    version: 1.15.8
+    version: 1.16
     refPaths:
     - path: build/build-image/cross/VERSION
     - path: cluster/addons/fluentd-elasticsearch/es-image/Dockerfile
@@ -111,8 +111,18 @@ dependencies:
     - path: staging/publishing/rules.yaml
       match: 'default-go-version\: \d+.\d+(alpha|beta|rc)?\.?(\d+)?'
 
+  # Golang pre-releases are denoted as `1.y<pre-release stage>.z`
+  # Example: go1.16rc1
+  #
+  # This entry is a stub of the major and minor version to allow dependency
+  # checks to pass when building Kubernetes using a pre-release of Golang.
+  - name: "golang: <major>.<minor>"
+    version: 1.16
+    refPaths:
+    - path: build/build-image/cross/VERSION
+
   - name: "k8s.gcr.io/kube-cross: dependents"
-    version: v1.15.8-1
+    version: v1.16.0-1
     refPaths:
     - path: build/build-image/cross/VERSION
     - path: test/images/sample-apiserver/Makefile
diff --git a/cluster/addons/fluentd-elasticsearch/es-image/Dockerfile b/cluster/addons/fluentd-elasticsearch/es-image/Dockerfile
index 0ba4802acc0..50b5077564c 100644
--- a/cluster/addons/fluentd-elasticsearch/es-image/Dockerfile
+++ b/cluster/addons/fluentd-elasticsearch/es-image/Dockerfile
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-FROM golang:1.15.8 AS builder
+FROM golang:1.16 AS builder
 COPY elasticsearch_logging_discovery.go go.mod go.sum /
 RUN CGO_ENABLED=0 GOOS=linux GO111MODULE=on go build -a -ldflags "-w" -o /elasticsearch_logging_discovery /elasticsearch_logging_discovery.go
 
diff --git a/test/images/Makefile b/test/images/Makefile
index 460c51da2b5..01d1dcb457e 100644
--- a/test/images/Makefile
+++ b/test/images/Makefile
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ REGISTRY ?= gcr.io/kubernetes-e2e-test-images
 GOARM ?= 7
 DOCKER_CERT_BASE_PATH ?=
 QEMUVERSION=v5.1.0-2
-GOLANG_VERSION=1.15.8
+GOLANG_VERSION=1.16
 export
 
 ifndef WHAT
diff --git a/test/images/sample-apiserver/Makefile b/test/images/sample-apiserver/Makefile
index eca56d22f62..c5f3d636837 100644
--- a/test/images/sample-apiserver/Makefile
+++ b/test/images/sample-apiserver/Makefile
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ export
 # Get without building to populate module cache
 # Then, get with OS/ARCH-specific env to build
 bin:
-	docker run --rm -i -v "${TARGET}:${TARGET}:Z" k8s.gcr.io/build-image/kube-cross:v1.15.8-1 \
+	docker run --rm -i -v "${TARGET}:${TARGET}:Z" k8s.gcr.io/build-image/kube-cross:v1.16.0-1 \
 		/bin/bash -c "\
 			mkdir -p /go/src /go/bin && \
 			GO111MODULE=on go get -d k8s.io/sample-apiserver@v0.17.0 && \