diff --git a/base/buildspec.yml b/base/buildspec.yml
index 093a4f0caee1..90f61fe24a7f 100644
--- a/base/buildspec.yml
+++ b/base/buildspec.yml
@@ -2,8 +2,8 @@ account_id: &ACCOUNT_ID <set-$ACCOUNT_ID-in-environment>
 prod_account_id: &PROD_ACCOUNT_ID 763104351884
 region: &REGION <set-$REGION-in-environment>
 framework: &FRAMEWORK base
-version: &VERSION 12.8.1
-short_version: &SHORT_VERSION "12.8"
+version: &VERSION 12.6.3
+short_version: &SHORT_VERSION "12.6"
 arch_type: &ARCH_TYPE x86_64
 autopatch_build: "False"
 
@@ -32,16 +32,16 @@ context:
       target: install_efa.sh
 
 images:
-  base_x86_64_gpu_cuda128:
+  base_x86_64_gpu_cuda126:
     <<: *BASE_REPOSITORY
     context:
       <<: *BASE_CONTEXT
     image_size_baseline: 11000
     device_type: &DEVICE_TYPE gpu
-    cuda_version: &CUDA_VERSION cu128
+    cuda_version: &CUDA_VERSION cu126
     python_version: &DOCKER_PYTHON_VERSION py3
-    tag_python_version: &TAG_PYTHON_VERSION py312
-    os_version: &OS_VERSION ubuntu24.04
+    tag_python_version: &TAG_PYTHON_VERSION py311
+    os_version: &OS_VERSION ubuntu22.04
     tag: !join [ *VERSION, "-", *DEVICE_TYPE, "-", *TAG_PYTHON_VERSION, "-", *CUDA_VERSION, "-", *OS_VERSION, "-ec2" ]
     latest_release_tag: !join [ *VERSION, "-", *DEVICE_TYPE, "-", *TAG_PYTHON_VERSION, "-", *CUDA_VERSION, "-", *OS_VERSION, "-ec2" ]
     docker_file: !join [ *FRAMEWORK, /, *ARCH_TYPE, /, *DEVICE_TYPE, /, *CUDA_VERSION, /Dockerfile ]
diff --git a/base/x86_64/gpu/cu128/Dockerfile b/base/x86_64/gpu/cu126/Dockerfile
similarity index 95%
rename from base/x86_64/gpu/cu128/Dockerfile
rename to base/x86_64/gpu/cu126/Dockerfile
index 89c60b7205c1..7b811e92e5b9 100644
--- a/base/x86_64/gpu/cu128/Dockerfile
+++ b/base/x86_64/gpu/cu126/Dockerfile
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 ARG PYTHON="python3"
-ARG PYTHON_VERSION="3.12.10"
-ARG PYTHON_SHORT_VERSION="3.12"
+ARG PYTHON_VERSION="3.11.12"
+ARG PYTHON_SHORT_VERSION="3.11"
 ARG CUDA_MAJOR="12"
-ARG CUDA_MINOR="8"
+ARG CUDA_MINOR="6"
 ARG EFA_VERSION="1.42.0"
-FROM nvidia/cuda:12.8.1-base-ubuntu24.04 AS base-builder
+FROM nvidia/cuda:12.6.3-base-ubuntu22.04 AS base-builder
 
 
 RUN mv /usr/local/cuda/compat /usr/local \
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ COPY install_cuda.sh install_cuda.sh
 RUN bash install_cuda.sh "${CUDA_MAJOR}.${CUDA_MINOR}" && rm install_cuda.sh
 
 ##############################################################################
-FROM nvidia/cuda:12.8.1-base-ubuntu24.04 AS final 
+FROM nvidia/cuda:12.6.3-base-ubuntu22.04 AS final 
 ARG PYTHON
 ARG PYTHON_SHORT_VERSION
 ARG CUDA_MAJOR
@@ -97,6 +97,7 @@ COPY --from=cuda-builder /usr/local/cuda-${CUDA_MAJOR}.${CUDA_MINOR} /usr/local/
 COPY install_efa.sh install_efa.sh 
 COPY deep_learning_container.py /usr/local/bin/deep_learning_container.py
 COPY bash_telemetry.sh /usr/local/bin/bash_telemetry.sh
+
 RUN chmod +x /usr/local/bin/deep_learning_container.py && \
     chmod +x /usr/local/bin/bash_telemetry.sh && \
     echo 'source /usr/local/bin/bash_telemetry.sh' >> /etc/bash.bashrc && \
diff --git a/dlc_developer_config.toml b/dlc_developer_config.toml
index 1962bfd69e21..e30b390cec8b 100644
--- a/dlc_developer_config.toml
+++ b/dlc_developer_config.toml
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ deep_canary_mode = false
 [build]
 # Add in frameworks you would like to build. By default, builds are disabled unless you specify building an image.
 # available frameworks - ["base", "vllm", "autogluon", "huggingface_tensorflow", "huggingface_pytorch", "huggingface_tensorflow_trcomp", "huggingface_pytorch_trcomp", "pytorch_trcomp", "tensorflow", "pytorch", "stabilityai_pytorch"]
-build_frameworks = []
+build_frameworks = ["base"]
 
 
 # By default we build both training and inference containers. Set true/false values to determine which to build.
diff --git a/scripts/install_cuda.sh b/scripts/install_cuda.sh
index cf176622ad39..5c0fc27700b5 100644
--- a/scripts/install_cuda.sh
+++ b/scripts/install_cuda.sh
@@ -46,6 +46,45 @@ function install_nvjpeg_for_cuda_below_129 {
     rm -rf /tmp/nvjpeg
 }
 
+function install_cuda126_stack {
+    CUDNN_VERSION="9.7.0.66"
+    NCCL_VERSION="v2.24.3-1"
+    CUDA_HOME="/usr/local/cuda"
+    
+    # move cuda-compt and remove existing cuda dir from nvidia/cuda:**.*.*-base-*
+    rm -rf /usr/local/cuda-*
+    rm -rf /usr/local/cuda
+
+    # install CUDA 12.6.3
+    wget -q https://developer.download.nvidia.com/compute/cuda/12.6.3/local_installers/cuda_12.6.3_560.35.05_linux.run
+    chmod +x cuda_12.6.3_560.35.05_linux.run
+    ./cuda_12.6.3_560.35.05_linux.run --toolkit --silent
+    rm -f cuda_12.6.3_560.35.05_linux.run
+    ln -s /usr/local/cuda-12.6 /usr/local/cuda
+    # bring back cuda-compat
+    mv /usr/local/compat /usr/local/cuda/compat 2>/dev/null || true
+
+    # install cudnn
+    mkdir -p /tmp/cudnn
+    cd /tmp/cudnn
+    wget -q https://developer.download.nvidia.com/compute/cudnn/redist/cudnn/linux-x86_64/cudnn-linux-x86_64-${CUDNN_VERSION}_cuda12-archive.tar.xz -O cudnn-linux-x86_64-${CUDNN_VERSION}_cuda12-archive.tar.xz
+    tar xf cudnn-linux-x86_64-${CUDNN_VERSION}_cuda12-archive.tar.xz
+    cp -a cudnn-linux-x86_64-${CUDNN_VERSION}_cuda12-archive/include/* /usr/local/cuda/include/
+    cp -a cudnn-linux-x86_64-${CUDNN_VERSION}_cuda12-archive/lib/* /usr/local/cuda/lib64/
+
+    # install nccl
+    mkdir -p /tmp/nccl
+    cd /tmp/nccl
+    git clone -b $NCCL_VERSION --depth 1 https://github.com/NVIDIA/nccl.git
+    cd nccl 
+    make -j src.build
+    cp -a build/include/* /usr/local/cuda/include/
+    cp -a build/lib/* /usr/local/cuda/lib64/
+    
+    install_nvjpeg_for_cuda_below_129
+    prune_cuda
+    ldconfig
+}
 
 function install_cuda128_stack {
     CUDNN_VERSION="9.8.0.87"
@@ -91,6 +130,8 @@ function install_cuda128_stack {
 while test $# -gt 0
 do
     case "$1" in
+    12.6) install_cuda126_stack;
+        ;;
     12.8) install_cuda128_stack;
         ;;
     *) echo "bad argument $1"; exit 1
diff --git a/scripts/install_python.sh b/scripts/install_python.sh
index c8579da2e4dc..acc572274443 100644
--- a/scripts/install_python.sh
+++ b/scripts/install_python.sh
@@ -23,7 +23,8 @@ function install_python {
 
     # this will add pip systemlink to pip${PYTHON_MAJOR_VERSION}
     python -m pip install --upgrade pip --trusted-host pypi.org --trusted-host files.pythonhosted.org
-    python -m pip install --no-cache-dir awscli boto3 requests setuptools
+    python -m pip install --no-cache-dir awscli boto3 requests
+    python -m pip install --no-cache-dir "setuptools>=78.1.1"
 }
 
 # idiomatic parameter and option handling in sh