diff --git a/continuous_integration/gpuci/axis.yaml b/continuous_integration/gpuci/axis.yaml
index 9a6015f39..a7029f427 100644
--- a/continuous_integration/gpuci/axis.yaml
+++ b/continuous_integration/gpuci/axis.yaml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 PYTHON_VER:
-- "3.8"
+- "3.9"
 - "3.10"
 
 CUDA_VER:
diff --git a/continuous_integration/gpuci/environment-3.8.yaml b/continuous_integration/gpuci/environment-3.9.yaml
similarity index 70%
rename from continuous_integration/gpuci/environment-3.8.yaml
rename to continuous_integration/gpuci/environment-3.9.yaml
index 6bb04653b..60050124f 100644
--- a/continuous_integration/gpuci/environment-3.8.yaml
+++ b/continuous_integration/gpuci/environment-3.9.yaml
@@ -7,36 +7,36 @@ channels:
 - nodefaults
 dependencies:
 - dask>=2022.3.0
-- fastapi=0.69.0
-- fugue=0.7.3
-- intake=0.6.0
+# FIXME: handling is needed for httpx-based fastapi>=0.87.0
+- fastapi>=0.69.0,<0.87.0
+- fugue>=0.7.3
+- intake>=0.6.0
 - jsonschema
 - lightgbm
-- maturin=0.12.8
+- maturin>=0.12.8
 - mlflow
 - mock
-- nest-asyncio
-- pandas=1.4.0
+- pandas>=1.4.0
 - pre-commit
-- prompt_toolkit=3.0.8
+- prompt_toolkit>=3.0.8
 # TODO: remove once py is added to pytest downstream libraries
 # https://github.com/pytest-dev/pytest-xdist/issues/832
 - py
 - psycopg2
 - pyarrow>=6.0.1
-- pygments=2.7.1
+- pygments>=2.7.1
 - pyhive
 - pytest-cov
 - pytest-rerunfailures
 - pytest-xdist
 - pytest
-- python=3.8
-- scikit-learn=1.0.0
-- setuptools-rust=1.5.2
+- python=3.9
+- scikit-learn>=1.0.0
+- setuptools-rust>=1.5.2
 - sphinx
 - sqlalchemy<2
 - tpot
-- tzlocal=2.1
+- tzlocal>=2.1
 - uvicorn>=0.13.4
 # GPU-specific requirements
 - cudatoolkit=11.5