diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/dpdk/default.nix b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/dpdk/default.nix
index 2d7c8a5f14e..15cfd84dd51 100644
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/dpdk/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/dpdk/default.nix
@@ -14,6 +14,9 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   RTE_KERNELDIR = "${kernel.dev}/lib/modules/${kernel.modDirVersion}/build";
   RTE_TARGET = "x86_64-native-linuxapp-gcc";
 
+  # we need sse3 instructions to build
+  NIX_ENFORCE_NO_NATIVE = "0";
+
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
   outputs = [ "out" "examples" ];