diff --git a/packages/angular-cli/tasks/serve-webpack.ts b/packages/angular-cli/tasks/serve-webpack.ts
index 42d16c9c4712..f3fa0fdfcb07 100644
--- a/packages/angular-cli/tasks/serve-webpack.ts
+++ b/packages/angular-cli/tasks/serve-webpack.ts
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ export default Task.extend({
       stats: webpackDevServerOutputOptions,
       inline: true,
       proxy: proxyConfig,
+      compress: commandOptions.target === 'production',
       watchOptions: {
         poll: CliConfig.fromProject().config.defaults.poll
       }