diff --git a/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/builders/karma/tests/behavior/module-cjs_spec.ts b/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/builders/karma/tests/behavior/module-cjs_spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..fdd972cb169c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/angular_devkit/build_angular/src/builders/karma/tests/behavior/module-cjs_spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+/**
+ * @license
+ * Copyright Google LLC All Rights Reserved.
+ *
+ * Use of this source code is governed by an MIT-style license that can be
+ * found in the LICENSE file at https://angular.io/license
+ */
+
+import { execute } from '../../index';
+import { BASE_OPTIONS, KARMA_BUILDER_INFO, describeBuilder } from '../setup';
+
+describeBuilder(execute, KARMA_BUILDER_INFO, (harness) => {
+  describe('Behavior: "module commonjs"', () => {
+    it('should work when module is commonjs', async () => {
+      harness.useTarget('test', {
+        ...BASE_OPTIONS,
+      });
+
+      await harness.modifyFile('src/tsconfig.spec.json', (content) => {
+        const tsConfig = JSON.parse(content);
+        tsConfig.compilerOptions.module = 'commonjs';
+
+        return JSON.stringify(tsConfig);
+      });
+
+      const { result } = await harness.executeOnce();
+
+      expect(result?.success).toBeTrue();
+    });
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/ngtools/webpack/src/loaders/direct-resource.ts b/packages/ngtools/webpack/src/loaders/direct-resource.ts
index b6f2a2cae111..5c5efda6c7c9 100644
--- a/packages/ngtools/webpack/src/loaders/direct-resource.ts
+++ b/packages/ngtools/webpack/src/loaders/direct-resource.ts
@@ -6,8 +6,14 @@
  * found in the LICENSE file at https://angular.io/license
  */
 
+import { LoaderContext } from 'webpack';
+
 export const DirectAngularResourceLoaderPath = __filename;
 
-export default function (content: string) {
-  return `export default ${JSON.stringify(content)};`;
+export default function (this: LoaderContext<{ esModule?: 'true' | 'false' }>, content: string) {
+  const { esModule } = this.getOptions();
+
+  return `${esModule === 'false' ? 'module.exports =' : 'export default'} ${JSON.stringify(
+    content,
+  )};`;
 }
diff --git a/packages/ngtools/webpack/src/transformers/replace_resources.ts b/packages/ngtools/webpack/src/transformers/replace_resources.ts
index 9eba2512148b..a4f47c78c805 100644
--- a/packages/ngtools/webpack/src/transformers/replace_resources.ts
+++ b/packages/ngtools/webpack/src/transformers/replace_resources.ts
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@ function visitComponentMetadata(
   styleReplacements: ts.Expression[],
   directTemplateLoading: boolean,
   resourceImportDeclarations: ts.ImportDeclaration[],
-  moduleKind?: ts.ModuleKind,
+  moduleKind: ts.ModuleKind = ts.ModuleKind.ES2015,
   inlineStyleFileExtension?: string,
 ): ts.ObjectLiteralElementLike | undefined {
   if (!ts.isPropertyAssignment(node) || ts.isComputedPropertyName(node.name)) {
@@ -159,9 +159,10 @@ function visitComponentMetadata(
       return undefined;
 
     case 'templateUrl':
+      const loaderOptions = moduleKind < ts.ModuleKind.ES2015 ? '?esModule=false' : '';
       const url = getResourceUrl(
         node.initializer,
-        directTemplateLoading ? `!${DirectAngularResourceLoaderPath}!` : '',
+        directTemplateLoading ? `!${DirectAngularResourceLoaderPath}${loaderOptions}!` : '',
       );
       if (!url) {
         return node;
@@ -255,14 +256,15 @@ function createResourceImport(
   nodeFactory: ts.NodeFactory,
   url: string,
   resourceImportDeclarations: ts.ImportDeclaration[],
-  moduleKind = ts.ModuleKind.ES2015,
+  moduleKind: ts.ModuleKind,
 ): ts.Identifier | ts.Expression {
   const urlLiteral = nodeFactory.createStringLiteral(url);
 
   if (moduleKind < ts.ModuleKind.ES2015) {
-    return nodeFactory.createPropertyAccessExpression(
-      nodeFactory.createCallExpression(nodeFactory.createIdentifier('require'), [], [urlLiteral]),
-      'default',
+    return nodeFactory.createCallExpression(
+      nodeFactory.createIdentifier('require'),
+      [],
+      [urlLiteral],
     );
   } else {
     const importName = nodeFactory.createIdentifier(
diff --git a/packages/ngtools/webpack/src/transformers/replace_resources_spec.ts b/packages/ngtools/webpack/src/transformers/replace_resources_spec.ts
index 59d554c6748b..0f09e6f7283a 100644
--- a/packages/ngtools/webpack/src/transformers/replace_resources_spec.ts
+++ b/packages/ngtools/webpack/src/transformers/replace_resources_spec.ts
@@ -102,8 +102,8 @@ describe('@ngtools/webpack transformers', () => {
         AppComponent = (0, tslib_1.__decorate)([
           (0, core_1.Component)({
             selector: 'app-root',
-            template: require("!${DirectAngularResourceLoaderPath}!./app.component.html").default,
-            styles: [require("./app.component.css").default, require("./app.component.2.css").default] }) ], AppComponent);
+            template: require("!${DirectAngularResourceLoaderPath}?esModule=false!./app.component.html"),
+            styles: [require("./app.component.css"), require("./app.component.2.css")] }) ], AppComponent);
         exports.AppComponent = AppComponent;
       `;