diff --git a/eng/common/tools.ps1 b/eng/common/tools.ps1
index de32a6da377..32bbd183552 100644
--- a/eng/common/tools.ps1
+++ b/eng/common/tools.ps1
@@ -432,11 +432,31 @@ function InitializeVisualStudioMSBuild([object]$vsRequirements = $null) {
   $msbuildVersionDir = if ([int]$vsMajorVersion -lt 16) { "$vsMajorVersion.0" } else { "Current" }
 
   $local:BinFolder = Join-Path $vsInstallDir "MSBuild\$msbuildVersionDir\Bin"
-  $local:Prefer64bit = if (Get-Member -InputObject $vsRequirements -Name 'Prefer64bit') { $vsRequirements.Prefer64bit } else { $false }
-  if ($local:Prefer64bit -and (Test-Path(Join-Path $local:BinFolder "amd64"))) {
-    $global:_MSBuildExe = Join-Path $local:BinFolder "amd64\msbuild.exe"
-  } else {
-    $global:_MSBuildExe = Join-Path $local:BinFolder "msbuild.exe"
+
+  # Use the MSBuild matching the host's process architecture (e.g. amd64 or arm64),
+  # falling back to the 32-bit MSBuild in the root Bin folder when no matching subfolder exists.
+
+  # Determine the architecture of the current process, accounting for a 32-bit process
+  # running on a 64-bit OS (PROCESSOR_ARCHITEW6432 holds the real machine architecture).
+  $local:ProcessArchitecture = $env:PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE
+  if (($local:ProcessArchitecture -eq 'x86') -and ($env:PROCESSOR_ARCHITEW6432)) {
+    $local:ProcessArchitecture = $env:PROCESSOR_ARCHITEW6432
+  }
+
+  # Map the architecture to the corresponding MSBuild subfolder. The 32-bit MSBuild lives in the
+  # root Bin folder, so x86 maps to an empty subfolder.
+  $local:MSBuildArchSubFolder = switch ($local:ProcessArchitecture) {
+    'AMD64' { 'amd64' }
+    'ARM64' { 'arm64' }
+    default { '' }
+  }
+
+  $global:_MSBuildExe = Join-Path $local:BinFolder "msbuild.exe"
+  if ($local:MSBuildArchSubFolder) {
+    $local:ArchMSBuildExe = Join-Path $local:BinFolder (Join-Path $local:MSBuildArchSubFolder "msbuild.exe")
+    if (Test-Path $local:ArchMSBuildExe) {
+      $global:_MSBuildExe = $local:ArchMSBuildExe
+    }
   }
 
   return $global:_MSBuildExe