diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index decee8d38e0..1f6e0c23e18 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/cli/safeexec v1.0.0
 	github.com/disintegration/gift v1.2.1
 	github.com/dustin/go-humanize v1.0.0
-	github.com/evanw/esbuild v0.11.16
+	github.com/evanw/esbuild v0.12.16
 	github.com/fortytw2/leaktest v1.3.0
 	github.com/frankban/quicktest v1.13.0
 	github.com/fsnotify/fsnotify v1.4.9
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 6a215919b87..0f2dee8b58c 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -191,6 +191,8 @@ github.com/envoyproxy/go-control-plane v0.9.9-0.20210217033140-668b12f5399d/go.m
 github.com/envoyproxy/protoc-gen-validate v0.1.0/go.mod h1:iSmxcyjqTsJpI2R4NaDN7+kN2VEUnK/pcBlmesArF7c=
 github.com/evanw/esbuild v0.11.16 h1:ysSn7DJ09i2r0/I4U+NlBEihlHXKGaKA0qy2ohXJ0Ss=
 github.com/evanw/esbuild v0.11.16/go.mod h1:y2AFBAGVelPqPodpdtxWWqe6n2jYf5FrsJbligmRmuw=
+github.com/evanw/esbuild v0.12.16 h1:UxvizOzRZk0gnlal2g2MulpCjIiAPtciLr674nOKtcI=
+github.com/evanw/esbuild v0.12.16/go.mod h1:y2AFBAGVelPqPodpdtxWWqe6n2jYf5FrsJbligmRmuw=
 github.com/fatih/color v1.7.0/go.mod h1:Zm6kSWBoL9eyXnKyktHP6abPY2pDugNf5KwzbycvMj4=
 github.com/fortytw2/leaktest v1.3.0 h1:u8491cBMTQ8ft8aeV+adlcytMZylmA5nnwwkRZjI8vw=
 github.com/fortytw2/leaktest v1.3.0/go.mod h1:jDsjWgpAGjm2CA7WthBh/CdZYEPF31XHquHwclZch5g=
diff --git a/hugolib/js_test.go b/hugolib/js_test.go
index 75dc0e7de9b..66c284d8b6f 100644
--- a/hugolib/js_test.go
+++ b/hugolib/js_test.go
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ TS2: {{ template "print" $ts2 }}
 	b.AssertFileContent("public/index.html", `
 console.log("included");
 if (hasSpace.test(string))
-var React = __toModule(require("react"));
+var React = __toModule(__require("react"));
 function greeter(person) {
 `)
 }