diff --git a/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/esbuild.ts b/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/esbuild.ts
index f1fbe8e607342e..43c319f2713761 100644
--- a/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/esbuild.ts
+++ b/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/esbuild.ts
@@ -179,6 +179,7 @@ export function esbuildPlugin(options: ESBuildOptions = {}): Plugin {
   // Remove optimization options for dev as we only need to transpile them,
   // and for build as the final optimization is in `buildEsbuildPlugin`
   const transformOptions: TransformOptions = {
+    target: 'esnext',
     ...options,
     minify: false,
     minifyIdentifiers: false,