diff --git a/nixos/modules/hardware/cpu/amd-microcode.nix b/nixos/modules/hardware/cpu/amd-microcode.nix
index d44f01a4959..621c7066bfe 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/hardware/cpu/amd-microcode.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/hardware/cpu/amd-microcode.nix
@@ -22,7 +22,8 @@ with lib;
   ###### implementation
 
   config = mkIf config.hardware.cpu.amd.updateMicrocode {
-    boot.initrd.prepend = [ "${pkgs.microcodeAmd}/amd-ucode.img" ];
+    # Microcode updates must be the first item prepended in the initrd
+    boot.initrd.prepend = mkOrder 1 [ "${pkgs.microcodeAmd}/amd-ucode.img" ];
   };
 
 }
diff --git a/nixos/modules/hardware/cpu/intel-microcode.nix b/nixos/modules/hardware/cpu/intel-microcode.nix
index 89ae4f45806..acce565fd80 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/hardware/cpu/intel-microcode.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/hardware/cpu/intel-microcode.nix
@@ -22,7 +22,8 @@ with lib;
   ###### implementation
 
   config = mkIf config.hardware.cpu.intel.updateMicrocode {
-    boot.initrd.prepend = [ "${pkgs.microcodeIntel}/intel-ucode.img" ];
+    # Microcode updates must be the first item prepended in the initrd
+    boot.initrd.prepend = mkOrder 1 [ "${pkgs.microcodeIntel}/intel-ucode.img" ];
   };
 
 }