diff --git a/pkg/kgateway/proxy_syncer/effective_endpoints.go b/pkg/kgateway/proxy_syncer/effective_endpoints.go
index 2270fc327cc..14aeb76dea4 100644
--- a/pkg/kgateway/proxy_syncer/effective_endpoints.go
+++ b/pkg/kgateway/proxy_syncer/effective_endpoints.go
@@ -31,11 +31,10 @@ func newFinalBackendEndpoints(
 		final.AttachedPolicies = backend.AttachedPolicies
 		final.ClusterName = backend.ClusterName()
 		final.UpstreamResourceName = backend.ResourceName()
-		for locality, endpoints := range raw.LbEps {
-			for _, endpoint := range endpoints {
-				final.Add(locality, endpoint)
-			}
-		}
+		// Reuse the endpoint protos AND their precomputed equality hash instead
+		// of re-Adding every endpoint: Add re-marshals each LbEndpoint proto
+		// (HashProtoWithHasher), which is a major allocation source at scale.
+		final.ReuseEndpointsFrom(raw)
 		// A same-named EDS cluster can still re-warm when policy changes CDS.
 		// Bump only the endpoint version so Envoy receives a fresh CLA response.
 		if policyHash := backendEndpointVersionHash(backend); policyHash != 0 {
diff --git a/pkg/kgateway/proxy_syncer/gateway_backend_variants.go b/pkg/kgateway/proxy_syncer/gateway_backend_variants.go
index aaf7e264af5..c3ba6753f4e 100644
--- a/pkg/kgateway/proxy_syncer/gateway_backend_variants.go
+++ b/pkg/kgateway/proxy_syncer/gateway_backend_variants.go
@@ -93,11 +93,10 @@ func newGatewayBackendVariantEndpoints(
 		}
 
 		clone := ir.NewEndpointsForBackend(*variant.backend)
-		for locality, endpoints := range base.LbEps {
-			for _, endpoint := range endpoints {
-				clone.Add(locality, endpoint)
-			}
-		}
+		// The endpoint protos are shared with the base backend; reuse the
+		// precomputed equality hash as well to avoid re-marshaling every
+		// LbEndpoint proto (HashProtoWithHasher) on each recompute.
+		clone.ReuseEndpointsFrom(base)
 
 		return clone
 	}, krtopts.ToOptions("GatewayBackendClientCertificateVariantEndpoints")...)
diff --git a/pkg/pluginsdk/ir/model.go b/pkg/pluginsdk/ir/model.go
index 0a85b0a1d05..5ac9fb41a27 100644
--- a/pkg/pluginsdk/ir/model.go
+++ b/pkg/pluginsdk/ir/model.go
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"hash/fnv"
 	"maps"
+	"slices"
 	"strings"
 
 	envoyendpointv3 "github.com/envoyproxy/go-control-plane/envoy/config/endpoint/v3"
@@ -269,6 +270,32 @@ func (e *EndpointsForBackend) Add(l PodLocality, emd EndpointWithMd) {
 	e.LbEps[l] = append(e.LbEps[l], emd)
 }
 
+// ReuseEndpointsFrom copies the endpoint entries and their precomputed
+// equality hash from base, avoiding a per-endpoint proto re-hash (which
+// marshals every LbEndpoint). The equality hashes are identical to what a full
+// re-Add of every endpoint would produce: epsEqualityHash only depends on the
+// endpoint set (shared with base), and the final hash mixes in this copy's own
+// upstreamHash for backend identity.
+// The per-locality slices are cloned to avoid append aliasing with base.
+func (e *EndpointsForBackend) ReuseEndpointsFrom(base *EndpointsForBackend) {
+	e.epsEqualityHash = base.epsEqualityHash
+	e.LbEpsEqualityHash = e.upstreamHash
+	// Mirror what Add() computes. Distinguish the empty set by endpoint count,
+	// not by hash value: a non-empty set can xor to a zero epsEqualityHash
+	// (e.g. duplicate endpoints across localities), and Add() would still
+	// produce hash(0, upstreamHash) in that case.
+	nonEmpty := false
+	for l, eps := range base.LbEps {
+		if len(eps) > 0 {
+			nonEmpty = true
+		}
+		e.LbEps[l] = slices.Clone(eps)
+	}
+	if nonEmpty {
+		e.LbEpsEqualityHash = hash(e.epsEqualityHash, e.upstreamHash)
+	}
+}
+
 func (c EndpointsForBackend) ResourceName() string {
 	return c.UpstreamResourceName
 }
diff --git a/pkg/pluginsdk/ir/model_endpoints_test.go b/pkg/pluginsdk/ir/model_endpoints_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..1dae61cf120
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/pluginsdk/ir/model_endpoints_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+package ir
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func epsBackend(name string) BackendObjectIR {
+	return NewBackendObjectIR(ObjectSource{
+		Group:     "",
+		Kind:      "Service",
+		Namespace: "default",
+		Name:      name,
+	}, 80, "", "")
+}
+
+func TestReuseEndpointsFromMatchesReAdd(t *testing.T) {
+	base := NewEndpointsForBackend(epsBackend("svc"))
+	for i := 0; i < 50; i++ {
+		loc := PodLocality{Region: "us-east-1", Zone: fmt.Sprintf("zone-%d", i%3)}
+		base.Add(loc, EndpointWithMd{
+			EndpointMd: EndpointMetadata{Labels: map[string]string{"i": fmt.Sprint(i)}},
+		})
+	}
+
+	// reference: rebuild by re-Adding every endpoint
+	readded := NewEndpointsForBackend(epsBackend("svc-variant"))
+	for loc, eps := range base.LbEps {
+		for _, ep := range eps {
+			readded.Add(loc, ep)
+		}
+	}
+
+	clone := NewEndpointsForBackend(epsBackend("svc-variant"))
+	clone.ReuseEndpointsFrom(base)
+
+	if clone.LbEpsEqualityHash != readded.LbEpsEqualityHash {
+		t.Fatalf("LbEpsEqualityHash mismatch: reuse=%d readd=%d", clone.LbEpsEqualityHash, readded.LbEpsEqualityHash)
+	}
+	if clone.LbEpsEqualityHash == base.LbEpsEqualityHash {
+		t.Fatal("variant hash should differ from base due to different upstream identity")
+	}
+	if len(clone.LbEps) != len(base.LbEps) {
+		t.Fatalf("locality count mismatch: got %d want %d", len(clone.LbEps), len(base.LbEps))
+	}
+	for loc, eps := range base.LbEps {
+		got := clone.LbEps[loc]
+		if len(got) != len(eps) {
+			t.Fatalf("endpoint count mismatch in %v: got %d want %d", loc, len(got), len(eps))
+		}
+		// verify slice was cloned (no aliasing of backing arrays)
+		if len(got) > 0 && &got[0] == &eps[0] {
+			t.Fatalf("endpoint slice for %v aliases base backing array", loc)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestReuseEndpointsFromNonEmptyZeroHash(t *testing.T) {
+	// two identical (locality, endpoint) entries xor to a zero epsEqualityHash;
+	// a re-Add still produces hash(0, upstreamHash), so reuse must too.
+	base := NewEndpointsForBackend(epsBackend("svc"))
+	loc := PodLocality{Region: "us-east-1", Zone: "zone-a"}
+	emd := EndpointWithMd{EndpointMd: EndpointMetadata{Labels: map[string]string{"i": "1"}}}
+	base.Add(loc, emd)
+	base.Add(loc, emd)
+	if base.epsEqualityHash != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected xor of identical endpoints to be 0, got %d", base.epsEqualityHash)
+	}
+
+	readded := NewEndpointsForBackend(epsBackend("svc-variant"))
+	readded.Add(loc, emd)
+	readded.Add(loc, emd)
+
+	clone := NewEndpointsForBackend(epsBackend("svc-variant"))
+	clone.ReuseEndpointsFrom(base)
+	if clone.LbEpsEqualityHash != readded.LbEpsEqualityHash {
+		t.Fatalf("zero-hash non-empty reuse mismatch: reuse=%d readd=%d", clone.LbEpsEqualityHash, readded.LbEpsEqualityHash)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestReuseEndpointsFromEmpty(t *testing.T) {
+	base := NewEndpointsForBackend(epsBackend("svc"))
+	clone := NewEndpointsForBackend(epsBackend("svc-variant"))
+	clone.ReuseEndpointsFrom(base)
+	readded := NewEndpointsForBackend(epsBackend("svc-variant"))
+	if clone.LbEpsEqualityHash != readded.LbEpsEqualityHash {
+		t.Fatalf("empty reuse hash mismatch: reuse=%d readd=%d", clone.LbEpsEqualityHash, readded.LbEpsEqualityHash)
+	}
+}