diff --git a/cluster/gce/gci/configure-helper.sh b/cluster/gce/gci/configure-helper.sh
index f1aec6b1459..e8ba8b08bfe 100644
--- a/cluster/gce/gci/configure-helper.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/gci/configure-helper.sh
@@ -1759,7 +1759,7 @@ function prepare-kube-proxy-manifest-variables {
   sed -i -e "s@{{container_env}}@${container_env}@g" "${src_file}"
   sed -i -e "s@{{kube_cache_mutation_detector_env_name}}@${kube_cache_mutation_detector_env_name}@g" "${src_file}"
   sed -i -e "s@{{kube_cache_mutation_detector_env_value}}@${kube_cache_mutation_detector_env_value}@g" "${src_file}"
-  sed -i -e "s@{{ cpurequest }}@100m@g" "${src_file}"
+  sed -i -e "s@{{ cpurequest }}@${KUBE_PROXY_CPU_REQUEST:-100m}@g" "${src_file}"
   sed -i -e "s@{{api_servers_with_port}}@${api_servers}@g" "${src_file}"
   sed -i -e "s@{{kubernetes_service_host_env_value}}@${KUBERNETES_MASTER_NAME}@g" "${src_file}"
   if [[ -n "${CLUSTER_IP_RANGE:-}" ]]; then