diff --git a/integration/scripts/files/elements/ubuntu-xenial-guest/post-install.d/91-hwe-kernel b/integration/scripts/files/elements/ubuntu-xenial-guest/post-install.d/91-hwe-kernel
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b60a0a95e0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/integration/scripts/files/elements/ubuntu-xenial-guest/post-install.d/91-hwe-kernel
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+set -e
+set -o xtrace
+
+# The HWE stack must be installed for nested virtualization on ppc64el.  This
+# environment variable is set automatically by trovestack, but it may also be
+# set by the user when manually invoking disk-image-create.
+
+case "$DIB_USE_HWE_KERNEL" in
+    true|True|TRUE|yes|Yes|YES)
+        DIB_USE_HWE_KERNEL=true
+        ;;
+    *)
+        DIB_USE_HWE_KERNEL=false
+        ;;
+esac
+
+if [ "$DIB_USE_HWE_KERNEL" == "true" ]; then
+    export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
+
+    PKG_ARCH=$(dpkg --print-architecture)
+
+    case "$PKG_ARCH" in
+        amd64|arm64|ppc64el|s390x)
+            apt-get --allow-unauthenticated install -y linux-generic-hwe-16.04
+            ;;
+    esac
+fi
diff --git a/integration/scripts/functions_qemu b/integration/scripts/functions_qemu
index aa608e34f6..f3219592c8 100644
--- a/integration/scripts/functions_qemu
+++ b/integration/scripts/functions_qemu
@@ -10,6 +10,12 @@
 
 USE_TMPFS=${USE_TMPFS:-true}
 
+# Use the latest distro provided hardware enablement stack which is required
+# by some platforms (ppc64el) for nested virtualization.  Trovestack runs a
+# VM (db guest image) in a VM (OpenStack+Trove)
+
+DIB_USE_HWE_KERNEL=${DIB_USE_HWE_KERNEL:-true}
+
 function build_vm() {
     exclaim "Actually building the image, this can take up to 15 minutes"
 
@@ -29,6 +35,7 @@ function build_vm() {
     if [ $DISTRO == 'ubuntu' ]; then
         export DIB_RELEASE=$RELEASE
         export DIB_CLOUD_IMAGES=cloud-images.ubuntu.com
+        export DIB_USE_HWE_KERNEL
         ARCH=$(dpkg --print-architecture)
     elif [ $DISTRO == 'fedora' ]; then
         EXTRA_ELEMENTS=selinux-permissive