diff --git a/packages/angular/build/src/tools/esbuild/application-code-bundle.ts b/packages/angular/build/src/tools/esbuild/application-code-bundle.ts
index e59f139c8aeb..257a98fc0f45 100644
--- a/packages/angular/build/src/tools/esbuild/application-code-bundle.ts
+++ b/packages/angular/build/src/tools/esbuild/application-code-bundle.ts
@@ -654,9 +654,13 @@ function getEsBuildCommonPolyfillsOptions(
   tryToResolvePolyfillsAsRelative: boolean,
   loadResultCache: LoadResultCache | undefined,
 ): BuildOptions | undefined {
-  const { jit, workspaceRoot, i18nOptions, externalPackages } = options;
+  const { jit, workspaceRoot, i18nOptions } = options;
 
-  const buildOptions = getEsBuildCommonOptions(options);
+  const buildOptions = getEsBuildCommonOptions({
+    ...options,
+    externalPackages: false,
+  });
+  buildOptions.packages = 'bundle';
   buildOptions.splitting = false;
   buildOptions.plugins ??= [];
 
@@ -671,10 +675,8 @@ function getEsBuildCommonPolyfillsOptions(
   // Locale data should go first so that project provided polyfill code can augment if needed.
   let needLocaleDataPlugin = false;
   if (i18nOptions.shouldInline) {
-    if (!externalPackages) {
-      // Remove localize polyfill when i18n inline transformation have been applied to all the packages.
-      polyfills = polyfills.filter((path) => !path.startsWith('@angular/localize'));
-    }
+    // Remove localize polyfill when i18n inline transformation have been applied to all the packages.
+    polyfills = polyfills.filter((path) => !path.startsWith('@angular/localize'));
 
     // Add locale data for all active locales
     // TODO: Inject each individually within the inlining process itself