diff --git a/hack/lib/version.sh b/hack/lib/version.sh
index ac96072df38..7a1d676e5a7 100644
--- a/hack/lib/version.sh
+++ b/hack/lib/version.sh
@@ -130,7 +130,9 @@ kube::version::ldflag() {
 kube::version::ldflags() {
   kube::version::get_version_vars
 
-  local -a ldflags=($(kube::version::ldflag "buildDate" "$(date -u +'%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ')"))
+  local buildDate=
+  [[ -z ${SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH-} ]] || buildDate="--date=@${SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH}"
+  local -a ldflags=($(kube::version::ldflag "buildDate" "$(date ${buildDate} -u +'%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ')"))
   if [[ -n ${KUBE_GIT_COMMIT-} ]]; then
     ldflags+=($(kube::version::ldflag "gitCommit" "${KUBE_GIT_COMMIT}"))
     ldflags+=($(kube::version::ldflag "gitTreeState" "${KUBE_GIT_TREE_STATE}"))