diff --git a/gnu/build/vm.scm b/gnu/build/vm.scm
index 73d0191de..a675111d4 100644
--- a/gnu/build/vm.scm
+++ b/gnu/build/vm.scm
@@ -104,7 +104,8 @@ the #:references-graphs parameter of 'derivation'."
       ;; hardware virtualization to still use these commands.  KVM support is
       ;; still buggy on some ARM32 boards. Do not use it even if available.
       ,@(if (and (file-exists? "/dev/kvm")
-                 (not target-arm32?))
+                 (not target-arm32?)
+                 (not (string-suffix? "-i386" qemu)))
             '("-enable-kvm")
             '())