diff --git a/build/build-image/Dockerfile b/build/build-image/Dockerfile
index 57b4300508c..e37a241de86 100644
--- a/build/build-image/Dockerfile
+++ b/build/build-image/Dockerfile
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ FROM gcr.io/google_containers/kube-cross:KUBE_BUILD_IMAGE_CROSS_TAG
 RUN touch /kube-build-image
 
 # To run as non-root we sometimes need to rebuild go stdlib packages.
-RUN chmod -R a+rwx /usr/local/go/pkg ${K8S_PATCHED_GOROOT}/pkg
+RUN chmod -R a+rwx /usr/local/go/pkg
 
 # For running integration tests /var/run/kubernetes is required
 # and should be writable by user
diff --git a/build/build-image/cross/Dockerfile b/build/build-image/cross/Dockerfile
index d2887e9b555..d3ec13ebf7e 100644
--- a/build/build-image/cross/Dockerfile
+++ b/build/build-image/cross/Dockerfile
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 # This file creates a standard build environment for building cross
 # platform go binary for the architecture kubernetes cares about.
 
-FROM golang:1.8.1
+FROM golang:1.8.3
 
 ENV GOARM 7
 ENV KUBE_DYNAMIC_CROSSPLATFORMS \
@@ -77,22 +77,3 @@ RUN export ETCD_VERSION=v3.0.17; \
   && cd /usr/local/src/etcd \
   && curl -fsSL https://github.com/coreos/etcd/releases/download/${ETCD_VERSION}/etcd-${ETCD_VERSION}-linux-amd64.tar.gz | tar -xz \
   && ln -s ../src/etcd/etcd-${ETCD_VERSION}-linux-amd64/etcd /usr/local/bin/
-
-
-# There is a significant performance regression in Go 1.8 comparing to Go 1.7.
-# Until this is solved in Go itself, we are patching 1.8.1 version of Go to
-# reduce the impact of this regression - for more detailed discussion see:
-# https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/issues/45216
-#
-# TODO: Once this issue is fixed in Go itself, we can get rid of the code below.
-ENV K8S_PATCHED_GOLANG_VERSION=1.8.1 \
-    K8S_PATCHED_GOROOT=/usr/local/go_k8s_patched
-RUN mkdir -p ${K8S_PATCHED_GOROOT} \
-  && curl -sSL https://github.com/golang/go/archive/go${K8S_PATCHED_GOLANG_VERSION}.tar.gz | tar -xz -C ${K8S_PATCHED_GOROOT} --strip-components=1
-
-COPY go_181_performance_fix.patch ${K8S_PATCHED_GOROOT}/
-RUN cd ${K8S_PATCHED_GOROOT} \
-  && patch -p1 < go_181_performance_fix.patch \
-  && cd src \
-  && GOROOT_FINAL=${K8S_PATCHED_GOROOT} GOROOT_BOOTSTRAP=/usr/local/go ./make.bash \
-  && for platform in ${KUBE_CROSSPLATFORMS}; do GOOS=${platform%/*} GOARCH=${platform##*/} GOROOT=${K8S_PATCHED_GOROOT} go install std; done
diff --git a/build/build-image/cross/VERSION b/build/build-image/cross/VERSION
index de541432f17..490e779dc9b 100644
--- a/build/build-image/cross/VERSION
+++ b/build/build-image/cross/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-v1.8.1-2
+v1.8.3-1
diff --git a/build/build-image/cross/go_181_performance_fix.patch b/build/build-image/cross/go_181_performance_fix.patch
deleted file mode 100644
index 64f942937c6..00000000000
--- a/build/build-image/cross/go_181_performance_fix.patch
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,24 +0,0 @@
-diff --git a/src/net/http/h2_bundle.go b/src/net/http/h2_bundle.go
-index 4536b2ff5d..84e78534a9 100644
---- a/src/net/http/h2_bundle.go
-+++ b/src/net/http/h2_bundle.go
-@@ -3536,9 +3536,17 @@ func (sc *http2serverConn) serve() {
- 		sc.idleTimerCh = sc.idleTimer.C
- 	}
- 
--	var gracefulShutdownCh <-chan struct{}
-+	var gracefulShutdownCh chan struct{}
- 	if sc.hs != nil {
--		gracefulShutdownCh = http2h1ServerShutdownChan(sc.hs)
-+		ch := http2h1ServerShutdownChan(sc.hs)
-+		gracefulShutdownCh = make(chan struct{})
-+		go func() {
-+			select {
-+			case <-sc.doneServing:
-+			case <-ch:
-+				close(gracefulShutdownCh)
-+			}
-+		}()
- 	}
- 
- 	go sc.readFrames()
diff --git a/build/root/WORKSPACE b/build/root/WORKSPACE
index fe0c36382ce..e01bbb336ac 100644
--- a/build/root/WORKSPACE
+++ b/build/root/WORKSPACE
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 http_archive(
     name = "io_bazel_rules_go",
-    sha256 = "a1cae429e9d591017421150e3173478c46c693bc594322c7fa7e6cb5f672ef59",
-    strip_prefix = "rules_go-805fd1566500997379806373feb05e138a4dfe28",
-    urls = ["https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_go/archive/805fd1566500997379806373feb05e138a4dfe28.tar.gz"],
+    sha256 = "64294fd0e74d2aafa03ec3a1f2f9c167e27d17c9a5cf393e8bf79e43258de73d",
+    strip_prefix = "rules_go-a9df110cf04e167b33f10473c7e904d780d921e6",
+    urls = ["https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_go/archive/a9df110cf04e167b33f10473c7e904d780d921e6.tar.gz"],
 )
 
 http_archive(
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ load("@io_bazel_rules_go//go:def.bzl", "go_repositories")
 load("@io_bazel_rules_docker//docker:docker.bzl", "docker_repositories")
 
 go_repositories(
-    go_version = "1.8.1",
+    go_version = "1.8.3",
 )
 
 docker_repositories()
diff --git a/cluster/images/etcd-version-monitor/Makefile b/cluster/images/etcd-version-monitor/Makefile
index 1149f4a0ae1..09fb29607dc 100644
--- a/cluster/images/etcd-version-monitor/Makefile
+++ b/cluster/images/etcd-version-monitor/Makefile
@@ -15,10 +15,10 @@
 # Build the etcd-version-monitor image
 #
 # Usage:
-# 	[GOLANG_VERSION=1.8.1] [REGISTRY=gcr.io/google-containers] [TAG=test] make (build|push)
+# 	[GOLANG_VERSION=1.8.3] [REGISTRY=gcr.io/google-containers] [TAG=test] make (build|push)
 # TODO(shyamjvs): Support architectures other than amd64 if needed.
 ARCH:=amd64
-GOLANG_VERSION?=1.8.1
+GOLANG_VERSION?=1.8.3
 REGISTRY?=gcr.io/google-containers
 TAG?=0.1.0
 IMAGE:=$(REGISTRY)/etcd-version-monitor:$(TAG)
diff --git a/hack/lib/golang.sh b/hack/lib/golang.sh
index 1156f9c516b..ce3bea0fa22 100755
--- a/hack/lib/golang.sh
+++ b/hack/lib/golang.sh
@@ -267,11 +267,6 @@ kube::golang::set_platform_envs() {
 
   # Do not set CC when building natively on a platform, only if cross-compiling from linux/amd64
   if [[ $(kube::golang::host_platform) == "linux/amd64" ]]; then
-    # We are currently using go 1.8.1, which has significant performance
-    # regression. Until this is fixed in Golang head, we are using patched
-    # version of Go that eliminates this problem.
-    export GOROOT=${K8S_PATCHED_GOROOT:-${GOROOT}}
-
     # Dynamic CGO linking for other server architectures than linux/amd64 goes here
     # If you want to include support for more server platforms than these, add arch-specific gcc names here
     case "${platform}" in
diff --git a/test/images/serve_hostname/Makefile b/test/images/serve_hostname/Makefile
index 9cb104ec730..fce55966e40 100644
--- a/test/images/serve_hostname/Makefile
+++ b/test/images/serve_hostname/Makefile
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ ALL_ARCH = amd64 arm arm64 ppc64le s390x
 
 GOARM=7
 TEMP_DIR := $(shell mktemp -d)
-GOLANG_VERSION=1.8.1
+GOLANG_VERSION=1.8.3
 
 BIN = serve_hostname
 SRCS = serve_hostname.go