diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 5112562..0962ee5 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
   get_option('default-ipv6-accept-ra'))
 conf_data.set('NIC_SUPPORTS_ETHTOOL', get_option('nic-ethtool'))
 conf_data.set('SYNC_MAC_FROM_INVENTORY', get_option('sync-mac'))
+conf_data.set('PERSIST_MAC', get_option('persist-mac'))
 
 sdbusplus_dep = dependency('sdbusplus', required: false)
 if sdbusplus_dep.found() and sdbusplus_dep.type_name() != 'internal'
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index 751a849..59d20f4 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -12,3 +12,5 @@
        description: 'Sync mac address with phosphor-inventory-manager')
 option('hyp-nw-config', type : 'boolean',
        description : 'ibm-oem: Enable the hypervisor network manager')
+option('persist-mac', type: 'boolean',
+       description: 'Permit the MAC address to be written to the systemd.network config')
diff --git a/src/ethernet_interface.cpp b/src/ethernet_interface.cpp
index 42ad198..3da9a57 100644
--- a/src/ethernet_interface.cpp
+++ b/src/ethernet_interface.cpp
@@ -1029,10 +1029,12 @@
     // Write the link section
     stream << "[Link]\n";
     auto mac = MacAddressIntf::macAddress();
+#ifdef PERSIST_MAC
     if (!mac.empty())
     {
         stream << "MACAddress=" << mac << "\n";
     }
+#endif
 
     if (!EthernetInterfaceIntf::nicEnabled())
     {