diff --git a/scripts/build/cc/gcc.sh b/scripts/build/cc/gcc.sh
index 352f6518..35ac96e1 100644
--- a/scripts/build/cc/gcc.sh
+++ b/scripts/build/cc/gcc.sh
@@ -395,7 +395,9 @@ do_gcc_core_backend() {
     if [ "${CT_LIBC_PICOLIBC}" = "y" ]; then
 	extra_config+=("--with-default-libc=picolibc")
 	extra_config+=("--enable-stdio=pure")
-	extra_config+=("--disable-wchar_t")
+	if [ "${CT_PICOLIBC_older_than_1_8}" = "y" ]; then
+	    extra_config+=("--disable-wchar_t")
+	fi
     fi
 
     core_LDFLAGS+=("${ldflags}")
diff --git a/scripts/build/companion_libs/340-picolibc.sh b/scripts/build/companion_libs/340-picolibc.sh
index 7b29a820..929babf0 100644
--- a/scripts/build/companion_libs/340-picolibc.sh
+++ b/scripts/build/companion_libs/340-picolibc.sh
@@ -146,7 +146,9 @@ do_cc_libstdcxx_picolibc()
     final_opts+=( "lang_list=c,c++" )
     final_opts+=( "build_step=libstdcxx" )
     final_opts+=( "extra_config+=('--enable-stdio=stdio_pure')" )
-    final_opts+=( "extra_config+=('--disable-wchar_t')" )
+    if [ "${CT_PICOLIBC_older_than_1_8}" = "y" ]; then
+	final_opts+=( "extra_config+=('--disable-wchar_t')" )
+    fi
     if [ "${CT_LIBC_PICOLIBC_ENABLE_TARGET_OPTSPACE}" = "y" ]; then
         final_opts+=( "enable_optspace=yes" )
     fi