diff --git a/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/builders/browser-esbuild/options.ts b/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/builders/browser-esbuild/options.ts
index 7a36796a95a2..649b970a048c 100644
--- a/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/builders/browser-esbuild/options.ts
+++ b/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/builders/browser-esbuild/options.ts
@@ -152,7 +152,8 @@ export async function normalizeOptions(
     crossOrigin,
     externalDependencies,
     poll,
-    preserveSymlinks,
+    // If not explicitly set, default to the Node.js process argument
+    preserveSymlinks: preserveSymlinks ?? process.execArgv.includes('--preserve-symlinks'),
     stylePreprocessorOptions,
     subresourceIntegrity,
     verbose,