diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 3c6ab462..db29b2af 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -403,15 +403,44 @@ find_package(Threads)
 
 find_package(Eigen3 REQUIRED)
 
-# fmt library: fallback when std::format is not available (e.g. GCC 11 on Ubuntu 22.04)
-find_package(fmt QUIET)
-if(NOT fmt_FOUND)
-  include(FetchContent)
-  FetchContent_Declare(fmt
-    GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/fmtlib/fmt.git
-    GIT_TAG 10.2.1
-  )
-  FetchContent_MakeAvailable(fmt)
+# See if std::format is available and if nor install fmt.
+include(CheckCXXSourceCompiles)
+set(_sta_fmt_check_saved_flags "${CMAKE_REQUIRED_FLAGS}")
+if(MSVC)
+  string(APPEND CMAKE_REQUIRED_FLAGS " /std:c++20")
+else()
+  string(APPEND CMAKE_REQUIRED_FLAGS " -std=c++20")
+endif()
+check_cxx_source_compiles("
+#include <format>
+#include <string>
+int main() { (void)std::format(\"{}\", 42); return 0; }
+" HAVE_CXX_STD_FORMAT)
+set(CMAKE_REQUIRED_FLAGS "${_sta_fmt_check_saved_flags}")
+
+if(HAVE_CXX_STD_FORMAT)
+  message(STATUS "std::format: available")
+else()
+  # Set the fmt dir for the ubuntu/centos docker files.
+  if(EXISTS "/usr/local/lib/cmake/fmt/fmt-config.cmake")
+    set(fmt_DIR "/usr/local/lib/cmake/fmt")
+  elseif(EXISTS "/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/cmake/fmt/fmt-config.cmake")
+    set(fmt_DIR "/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/cmake/fmt")
+  elseif(EXISTS "/usr/lib/aarch64-linux-gnu/cmake/fmt/fmt-config.cmake")
+    set(fmt_DIR "/usr/lib/aarch64-linux-gnu/cmake/fmt")
+  endif()
+  find_package(fmt QUIET)
+  if(fmt_FOUND)
+    message(STATUS "std::format: using installed fmt library")
+  else()
+    message(STATUS "std::format: building fmt library")
+    include(FetchContent)
+    FetchContent_Declare(fmt
+      GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/fmtlib/fmt.git
+      GIT_TAG 10.2.1
+    )
+    FetchContent_MakeAvailable(fmt)
+  endif()
 endif()
 
 include(cmake/FindCUDD.cmake)
@@ -529,12 +558,15 @@ target_sources(OpenSTA
 
 target_link_libraries(OpenSTA
   Eigen3::Eigen
-  fmt::fmt
   ${TCL_LIBRARY}
   ${CMAKE_THREAD_LIBS_INIT}
   ${CUDD_LIB}
   )
 
+if(NOT HAVE_CXX_STD_FORMAT)
+  target_link_libraries(OpenSTA fmt::fmt)
+endif()
+
 if (ZLIB_LIBRARIES)
   target_link_libraries(OpenSTA ${ZLIB_LIBRARIES})
 endif()
diff --git a/Dockerfile.centos7 b/Dockerfile.centos7
index cdcd6037..458d0dbc 100644
--- a/Dockerfile.centos7
+++ b/Dockerfile.centos7
@@ -53,6 +53,30 @@ RUN source /opt/rh/devtoolset-11/enable && \
     make -j`nproc` && \
     make install
 
+# Download and build fmt
+# Ensure the Vault redirect is applied to everything including new installs
+RUN sed -i s/mirror.centos.org/vault.centos.org/g /etc/yum.repos.d/*.repo && \
+    sed -i s/^#.*baseurl=http/baseurl=http/g /etc/yum.repos.d/*.repo && \
+    sed -i s/^mirrorlist=http/#mirrorlist=http/g /etc/yum.repos.d/*.repo && \
+    yum install -y ca-certificates git && \
+    update-ca-trust force-enable
+# clone fmt compatible version (10.2.1)
+RUN git config --global http.sslVerify false && \
+    git clone --depth 1 --branch 10.2.1 https://github.com/fmtlib/fmt.git /tmp/fmt
+RUN source /opt/rh/devtoolset-11/enable && \
+    cd /tmp/fmt && \
+    mkdir build && cd build && \
+    cmake3 .. \
+    -DCMAKE_POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE=ON \
+    -DFMT_TEST=OFF \
+    -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
+    -DFMT_DOC=OFF && \
+    make -j$(nproc) && \
+    make install
+RUN rm -rf /tmp/fmt
+
+################################################################
+
 FROM base-dependencies AS builder
 
 COPY . /OpenSTA
diff --git a/Dockerfile.ubuntu22.04 b/Dockerfile.ubuntu22.04
index e636fc21..b8c94ca4 100644
--- a/Dockerfile.ubuntu22.04
+++ b/Dockerfile.ubuntu22.04
@@ -13,12 +13,13 @@ RUN apt-get update && \
     gdb \
     tcl-dev \
     tcl-tclreadline \
-    libeigen3-dev \
     swig \
     bison \
     flex \
     automake \
-    autotools-dev
+    autotools-dev \
+    libeigen3-dev \
+    libfmt-dev
 
 # Download CUDD
 RUN wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/davidkebo/cudd/main/cudd_versions/cudd-3.0.0.tar.gz && \
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 8323cf74..e30b1051 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -104,6 +104,7 @@ eigen       3.4.0   3.4.0   MPL2  required
 cudd        3.0.0   3.0.0   BSD   required
 tclreadline 2.3.8   2.3.8   BSD   optional
 zLib        1.2.5   1.2.8   zlib  optional
+libfmt      8.1.1   N/A     MIT   required if std::format not available
 ```
 
 The [TCL readline library](https://tclreadline.sourceforge.net/tclreadline.html)
@@ -143,6 +144,11 @@ make
 You can use the "configure --prefix" option and "make install" to install CUDD
 in a different directory.
 
+Modern c++ compilers that support c++20 include support for std::format.
+With older compilers like gcc 11 on Ubuntu 22.04 and Centos7 the fmt library
+is used instead. If it is not installed locally, the github repository is
+downloaded and compiled in the build directory.
+
 ### Building with CMake
 
 Use the following commands to checkout the git repository and build the