diff --git a/scripts/publish-npm.ts b/scripts/publish-npm.ts
index 390eb58466b..c98828d93bd 100755
--- a/scripts/publish-npm.ts
+++ b/scripts/publish-npm.ts
@@ -112,6 +112,11 @@ async function main() {
 
     console.log(chalk.magenta.bold(`~~~ Preparing package ${pkg}~~~`));
     console.log(chalk.magenta('~~~ Installing packages ~~~'));
+    // tfjs-node-gpu needs to get some files from tfjs-node.
+    if (pkg === "tfjs-node-gpu") {
+      $('yarn prep-gpu');
+    }
+
     // Yarn above the other checks to make sure yarn doesn't change the lock file.
     $('yarn');
 
diff --git a/scripts/release-util.ts b/scripts/release-util.ts
index dd607ed207f..893fffff5fd 100755
--- a/scripts/release-util.ts
+++ b/scripts/release-util.ts
@@ -46,9 +46,12 @@ export const UNION_PHASE: Phase = {
   deps: ['tfjs-core', 'tfjs-layers', 'tfjs-converter', 'tfjs-data']
 };
 
+// We added tfjs-core and tfjs-layers because Node has unit tests that directly
+// use tf.core and tf.layers to test serialization of models. Consider moving
+// the test to tf.layers.
 export const NODE_PHASE: Phase = {
   packages: ['tfjs-node', 'tfjs-node-gpu'],
-  deps: ['tfjs', 'tfjs-core'],
+  deps: ['tfjs', 'tfjs-core', 'tfjs-layers'],
   scripts: {'tfjs-node-gpu': {'before-yarn': ['yarn prep-gpu']}}
 };