diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 92a5ffc082a298061a3f8d11c6302a6c7b6b15f8..3ace5c4e3c13e9f036f271d37f0677013b96a1f0 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -158,6 +158,9 @@ build_gpu_image:
   script:
     - *update_ansible_repo
     - *get_ansible_files
+    - export GPU_PLACEHOLDER_NAME="gpu1-placeholder"
+    - export GPU_PLACEHOLDER_FLAVOR="gpu1.medium"
+    - export GPU_PLACEHOLDER_IMAGE="CentOS-7-x86_64-GenericCloud-2009"
     - export PKR_VAR_source_image=${BUILT_BASE_IMAGE_ID}
     - export REPO_HEAD=$(git rev-parse --short HEAD)
     - export PKR_VAR_flavor="gpu1.medium"
@@ -170,7 +173,9 @@ build_gpu_image:
         export PKR_VAR_image_name="gpu-${BUILD_DATE}"
       fi
     - packer validate openstack-gpu
+    - openstack server delete --wait $GPU_PLACEHOLDER_NAME
     - packer build -machine-readable openstack-gpu | tee gpu_build.log
+    - openstack server create --image $GPU_PLACEHOLDER_IMAGE --network cicd-net --flavor $GPU_PLACEHOLDER_FLAVOR $GPU_PLACEHOLDER_NAME
 
 build_ood_image:
   stage: build