diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 1c27b74c5..f600d32b6 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /bin/
-/manager
+/manager*
 *.tgz
 /*gpu-operator*.tgz
 /helm-charts-k8s/charts/*.tgz
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ tests/pytests/*
 
 .cline_storage
 .vscode
+.idea
 branch_policy.yml
 tools-internal/*
 docs-internal/*
diff --git a/.wordlist.txt b/.wordlist.txt
index 6d634eb09..f4cbdd1c8 100644
--- a/.wordlist.txt
+++ b/.wordlist.txt
@@ -163,6 +163,7 @@ PreStateDB
 prometheus
 Promethues
 quay
+QEMU
 QPX
 RAS
 RBAC
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 33fda9144..0be902b9a 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ ARG GOLANG_BASE_IMG=golang:1.26.5
 ARG OPERATOR_CONTROLLER_BASE_IMAGE=registry.access.redhat.com/ubi9/ubi-minimal:9.8
 
 # Build the manager binary
-FROM ${GOLANG_BASE_IMG} AS builder
+FROM --platform=$BUILDPLATFORM ${GOLANG_BASE_IMG} AS builder
 
 USER root
 
@@ -36,16 +36,20 @@ RUN cd helm-charts-k8s/charts && \
     tar -xvzf node-feature-discovery-chart-0.18.3.tgz
 
 ARG TARGET
+# No defaults: buildx sets these per --platform; a default would pin the arch.
+ARG TARGETARCH
+ARG TARGETOS
 
 # Build
-RUN git config --global --add safe.directory ${PWD} && make ${TARGET}
+RUN git config --global --add safe.directory ${PWD} && GOOS=${TARGETOS} GOARCH=${TARGETARCH} make ${TARGET}
 
-RUN curl -LO https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl && \
+RUN curl -LO https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/linux/${TARGETARCH}/kubectl && \
     chmod +x ./kubectl
 
 FROM ${OPERATOR_CONTROLLER_BASE_IMAGE}
 
 ARG TARGET
+ARG TARGETARCH
 
 COPY --from=builder /opt/app-root/src/${TARGET} /usr/local/bin/manager
 COPY --from=builder /opt/app-root/src/kubectl /usr/local/bin/kubectl
diff --git a/Dockerfile.build b/Dockerfile.build
index eb2494afe..721d4f62a 100644
--- a/Dockerfile.build
+++ b/Dockerfile.build
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ RUN apt-get update -y && \
     protobuf-compiler \
     locales \
     ca-certificates \
+    qemu-user-static \
+    libc6-arm64-cross \
     sudo && \
     apt-get clean && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
@@ -71,12 +73,16 @@ RUN curl -o /usr/local/bin/kubectl -LO 'https://dl.k8s.io/release/v1.36.2/bin/li
 
 ARG INSECURE_REGISTRY
 RUN echo "INSECURE_REGISTRY is: $INSECURE_REGISTRY" && \
-    if [ -n "$INSECURE_REGISTRY" ]; then \
     mkdir -p /etc/docker && \
+    if [ -n "$INSECURE_REGISTRY" ]; then \
     echo "{ \
-    \"insecure-registries\": [\"$INSECURE_REGISTRY\"] \
+    \"insecure-registries\": [\"$INSECURE_REGISTRY\"], \
+    \"features\": {\"containerd-snapshotter\": true} \
     }" > /etc/docker/daemon.json; \
     else \
+    echo "{ \
+    \"features\": {\"containerd-snapshotter\": true} \
+    }" > /etc/docker/daemon.json; \
     echo "INSECURE_REGISTRY is not set"; \
     fi
 
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 877ecb7c0..f20451d5d 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -353,12 +353,15 @@ docs-lint: ## Run docs Markdown lint + spelling (full ROCm-style docs lint).
 
 ##@ Build
 
-manager: $(shell find -name "*.go") go.mod go.sum  ## Build manager binary.
+manager: $(shell find -name "*.go") go.mod go.sum  ## Build manager binary (honors GOOS/GOARCH from the environment).
 	go build -ldflags="-X main.Version=$(PROJECT_VERSION) -X main.GitCommit=$(GIT_COMMIT) -X main.BuildTag=$(HOURLY_TAG_LABEL)" -o $@ ./cmd
 
+# Build platform, default amd64. Set to a list (linux/amd64,linux/arm64) for multi-arch.
+PLATFORM ?= linux/amd64
+
 .PHONY: docker-build
-docker-build: ## Build docker image with the manager.
-	DOCKER_BUILDKIT=1 $(CONTAINER_ENGINE) build -t $(IMG) --label HOURLY_TAG=$(HOURLY_TAG_LABEL) --build-arg TARGET=manager --build-arg GOLANG_BASE_IMG=$(GOLANG_BASE_IMG) --build-arg OPERATOR_CONTROLLER_BASE_IMAGE=$(OPERATOR_CONTROLLER_BASE_IMAGE) .
+docker-build: ## Build docker image with the manager (PLATFORM, default linux/amd64).
+	DOCKER_BUILDKIT=1 $(CONTAINER_ENGINE) buildx build --platform "$(PLATFORM)" -t $(IMG) --label HOURLY_TAG=$(HOURLY_TAG_LABEL) --build-arg TARGET=manager --build-arg GOLANG_BASE_IMG=$(GOLANG_BASE_IMG) --build-arg OPERATOR_CONTROLLER_BASE_IMAGE=$(OPERATOR_CONTROLLER_BASE_IMAGE) .
 
 .PHONY: docker-push
 docker-push: ## Push docker image with the manager.
@@ -369,8 +372,8 @@ docker-save: ## Save the container image with the manager.
 	$(CONTAINER_ENGINE) save $(IMG) | gzip > $(IMAGE_NAME).tar.gz
 
 .PHONY: docker-build-utils
-docker-build-utils: ## Build docker image for utils container.
-	DOCKER_BUILDKIT=1 $(CONTAINER_ENGINE) build -t $(UTILS_IMG) --label HOURLY_TAG=$(HOURLY_TAG_LABEL) -f internal/utils_container/Dockerfile .
+docker-build-utils: ## Build docker image for utils container (PLATFORM, default linux/amd64).
+	DOCKER_BUILDKIT=1 $(CONTAINER_ENGINE) buildx build --platform "$(PLATFORM)" -t $(UTILS_IMG) --label HOURLY_TAG=$(HOURLY_TAG_LABEL) -f internal/utils_container/Dockerfile .
 
 .PHONY: docker-push-utils
 docker-push-utils: ## Push docker image for utils container.
diff --git a/docs/contributing/developer-guide.md b/docs/contributing/developer-guide.md
index cb51e709f..2b37d8d22 100644
--- a/docs/contributing/developer-guide.md
+++ b/docs/contributing/developer-guide.md
@@ -67,6 +67,35 @@ make docker-push
 
 > Note: If you're using a remote registry that requires authentication, ensure you've logged in using `docker login` before pushing.
 
+### Building the controller manager image for a specific architecture
+
+`make docker-build` runs `$(CONTAINER_ENGINE) buildx build` and is architecture-configurable through the `PLATFORM` variable, which defaults to `linux/amd64`. Set it to a single platform, or a comma-separated list for a multi-arch build. This works with `docker buildx` and with `podman` 4.0+ (which aliases `podman buildx build` to `podman build`).
+
+```bash
+# Default: builds a linux/amd64 image and loads it into the local image store
+make docker-build
+
+# Build a single arm64 image
+make docker-build PLATFORM=linux/arm64
+```
+
+`buildx` populates the `TARGETOS`/`TARGETARCH` build arguments per platform, which drive both the Go cross-compilation (`GOOS`/`GOARCH`) and the architecture-specific `kubectl` download. With no override, `make docker-build` produces a `linux/amd64` image, unchanged from the previous default.
+
+A single-platform build is loaded into the local image store automatically. A **multi-platform** `PLATFORM` (e.g. `linux/amd64,linux/arm64`) cannot be loaded locally — buildx must push the resulting manifest list straight to a registry, which the `docker-build` target does not do. For that case, run buildx directly with `--push`.
+
+The utils container image build follows the same convention through the same `PLATFORM` variable:
+
+```bash
+make docker-build-utils                  # linux/amd64
+make docker-build-utils PLATFORM=linux/arm64
+```
+
+> Note: When building for an architecture different from your host, register QEMU emulation once per host so the runtime stage can execute:
+>
+> ```bash
+> docker run --privileged --rm tonistiigi/binfmt --install arm64,ppc64le
+> ```
+
 - Generate Helm charts:
   - For vanilla Kubernetes: `make helm`
   - For OpenShift: `OPENSHIFT=1 make helm`
diff --git a/internal/utils_container/Dockerfile b/internal/utils_container/Dockerfile
index 77913f234..064d192eb 100644
--- a/internal/utils_container/Dockerfile
+++ b/internal/utils_container/Dockerfile
@@ -16,9 +16,11 @@ RUN microdnf install -y util-linux pciutils kmod tar jq systemd && \
 ADD LICENSE /licenses/LICENSE
 
 # Install kubectl and oc
+# No default: buildx sets TARGETARCH per --platform.
+ARG TARGETARCH
 RUN mkdir -p /oc && cd /oc && \
-    curl -SsLO 'https://mirror.openshift.com/pub/openshift-v4/clients/ocp/latest/openshift-client-linux-amd64-rhel9.tar.gz' && \
-    tar -xzf openshift-client-linux-amd64-rhel9.tar.gz -C /oc && \
+    curl -SsLO "https://mirror.openshift.com/pub/openshift-v4/clients/ocp/latest/openshift-client-linux-${TARGETARCH}-rhel9.tar.gz" && \
+    tar -xzf "openshift-client-linux-${TARGETARCH}-rhel9.tar.gz" -C /oc && \
     cp ./kubectl /usr/local/bin && chmod +x /usr/local/bin/kubectl && \
     cp ./oc /usr/local/bin && chmod +x /usr/local/bin/oc && \
     rm -rf /oc