diff --git a/cmd/ateom-microvm/internal/ch/merge.go b/cmd/ateom-microvm/internal/ch/merge.go
index e20f18ce7..3a0f7b329 100644
--- a/cmd/ateom-microvm/internal/ch/merge.go
+++ b/cmd/ateom-microvm/internal/ch/merge.go
@@ -84,6 +84,17 @@ func MergeSparseOverlay(ctx context.Context, baseFile, deltaFile, outFile string
 	if err := o.Close(); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
+	// Put the merged image at outFile's name. Unlink the old one FIRST, then rename
+	// onto the now-free name, for the same reason as MergeDeltaIntoBase's final
+	// rename below: renaming OVER an existing file makes ext4 (data=ordered)
+	// synchronously write back the renamed file's dirty pages, and `tmp` carries the
+	// whole merged image. Renaming to a non-existent name skips that flush (the
+	// dirty pages stay in page cache for atelet to ship), taking the merge
+	// ~1140ms→~115ms. Unlike there, outFile need not exist: this is also called to
+	// write a merged image to a fresh path.
+	if err := os.Remove(outFile); err != nil && !os.IsNotExist(err) {
+		return fmt.Errorf("remove old out: %w", err)
+	}
 	return os.Rename(tmp, outFile)
 }
 
diff --git a/cmd/ateom-microvm/internal/ch/merge_test.go b/cmd/ateom-microvm/internal/ch/merge_test.go
index 43a628d2a..e9376ede3 100644
--- a/cmd/ateom-microvm/internal/ch/merge_test.go
+++ b/cmd/ateom-microvm/internal/ch/merge_test.go
@@ -152,6 +152,37 @@ func TestMergeDeltaIntoBase(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+// TestMergeSparseOverlayNewOutFile covers the copying merge writing to an outFile
+// that does not exist yet: the unlink before its final rename has to tolerate a
+// missing destination rather than fail the merge. TestMergeDeltaIntoBase above
+// already covers the case where outFile does exist.
+func TestMergeSparseOverlayNewOutFile(t *testing.T) {
+	const size = 8 << 20 // 8 MiB logical
+	baseRegions := []region{{off: 0, data: fill(1, 4096)}}
+	deltaRegions := []region{{off: 4 << 20, data: fill(42, 12345)}}
+	want := make([]byte, size)
+	copy(want[baseRegions[0].off:], baseRegions[0].data)
+	copy(want[deltaRegions[0].off:], deltaRegions[0].data)
+
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	base := filepath.Join(dir, "base")
+	delta := filepath.Join(dir, "delta")
+	out := filepath.Join(dir, "out") // deliberately never created
+	writeSparse(t, base, size, baseRegions)
+	writeSparse(t, delta, size, deltaRegions)
+
+	if err := MergeSparseOverlay(context.Background(), base, delta, out); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("MergeSparseOverlay: %v", err)
+	}
+	got, err := os.ReadFile(out)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if !bytes.Equal(got, want) {
+		t.Fatalf("merged result != expected (len got=%d want=%d)", len(got), len(want))
+	}
+}
+
 // TestMergeDeltaIntoBaseSizeMismatch verifies a base/delta size mismatch is
 // refused (misaligned overlay would corrupt the image) rather than silently
 // producing garbage.