diff --git a/esphome/core/buildinfo.cpp b/esphome/core/buildinfo.cpp
index 912b506790..839bee9857 100644
--- a/esphome/core/buildinfo.cpp
+++ b/esphome/core/buildinfo.cpp
@@ -22,7 +22,11 @@ namespace esphome {
 namespace buildinfo {
 
 // Reference the linker symbols as uintptr_t from the *data* section to
-// avoid issues with pc-relative relocations on 64-bit platforms.
+// avoid issues with pc-relative relocations on 64-bit platforms. And
+// don't let the compiler know they're const or it'll optimise away the
+// whole thing and emit a relocation to the ESPHOME_XXX symbols above
+// directly, which defaults the whole point!
+//
 // NOLINTBEGIN(cppcoreguidelines-avoid-non-const-global-variables)
 static uintptr_t config_hash = (uintptr_t) &ESPHOME_CONFIG_HASH;
 static uintptr_t build_time = (uintptr_t) &ESPHOME_BUILD_TIME;