diff --git a/templates/al2023/runtime/gpu/nvidia-kmod-load.service b/templates/al2023/runtime/gpu/nvidia-kmod-load.service
index 6659620a0..d67806b6b 100755
--- a/templates/al2023/runtime/gpu/nvidia-kmod-load.service
+++ b/templates/al2023/runtime/gpu/nvidia-kmod-load.service
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 [Unit]
 Description=Loading NVIDIA kernel modules
-# load modules after cloud-init
-After=cloud-final.service
-Requires=cloud-final.service
-Before=nvidia-persistenced.service
+# the script needs to use IMDS, so wait for the network to be up to avoid any flakiness
+After=network-online.target
+Wants=network-online.target
+Before=nvidia-fabricmanager.service nvidia-persistenced.service
 
 [Service]
 Type=oneshot