diff --git a/src/lib/form-field/_form-field-theme.scss b/src/lib/form-field/_form-field-theme.scss
index 3277aac5bb81..1f815b4fb2cd 100644
--- a/src/lib/form-field/_form-field-theme.scss
+++ b/src/lib/form-field/_form-field-theme.scss
@@ -90,6 +90,12 @@
   }
 }
 
+// Used to make instances of the _mat-form-field-placeholder-floating mixin negligibly different,
+// and prevent Google's CSS Optimizer from collapsing the declarations. This is needed because some
+// of the selectors contain pseudo-classes not recognized in all browsers. If a browser encounters
+// an unknown pseudo-class it will discard the entire rule set.
+$dedupe: 0;
+
 // Applies a floating placeholder above the form field control itself.
 @mixin _mat-form-field-placeholder-floating($font-scale, $infix-padding, $infix-margin-top) {
   // We use perspective to fix the text blurriness as described here:
@@ -97,25 +103,14 @@
   // This results in a small jitter after the label floats on Firefox, which the
   // translateZ fixes.
   transform: translateY(-$infix-margin-top - $infix-padding) scale($font-scale) perspective(100px)
-             translateZ(0.001px);
+             translateZ(0.001px + $dedupe);
   // The tricks above used to smooth out the animation on chrome and firefox actually make things
   // worse on IE, so we don't include them in the IE version.
-  -ms-transform: translateY(-$infix-margin-top - $infix-padding) scale($font-scale);
+  -ms-transform: translateY(-$infix-margin-top - $infix-padding + $dedupe) scale($font-scale);
 
-  width: 100% / $font-scale;
-}
+  width: 100% / $font-scale + $dedupe;
 
-// This is a total duplicate of the mixin above with insignificant values added to the rules.
-// This exists because the mixin is used in two places. When Google's CSS Optimizer runs over this
-// css (after compiling from sass), it combines those two declarations into one. However, one of
-// those places uses `:-webkit-autofill`. When Firefox encounters this unknown pseuedo-class,
-// it ignores the entire rule. To work around this, we force one of the delcarations to be
-// technically different but still render the same by adding a tiny value to the transform / width.
-@mixin _mat-form-field-placeholder-float-nodedupe($font-scale, $infix-padding, $infix-margin-top) {
-  transform: translateY(-$infix-margin-top - $infix-padding) scale($font-scale) perspective(100px)
-             translateZ(0.002px);
-  -ms-transform: translateY(-$infix-margin-top - $infix-padding) scale($font-scale);
-  width: (100% / $font-scale) + 0.0001;
+  $dedupe: $dedupe + 0.00001 !global;
 }
 
 @mixin mat-form-field-typography($config) {
@@ -188,14 +183,23 @@
   }
 
   .mat-form-field-can-float {
-    &.mat-form-field-should-float .mat-form-field-placeholder {
+    &.mat-form-field-should-float .mat-form-field-placeholder,
+    .mat-input-server:focus + .mat-form-field-placeholder-wrapper .mat-form-field-placeholder {
       @include _mat-form-field-placeholder-floating(
-          $subscript-font-scale, $infix-padding, $infix-margin-top);
+              $subscript-font-scale, $infix-padding, $infix-margin-top);
     }
 
     .mat-form-field-autofill-control:-webkit-autofill + .mat-form-field-placeholder-wrapper
         .mat-form-field-placeholder {
-      @include _mat-form-field-placeholder-float-nodedupe(
+      @include _mat-form-field-placeholder-floating(
+              $subscript-font-scale, $infix-padding, $infix-margin-top);
+    }
+
+    // Server-side rendered matInput with a placeholder attribute but placeholder not shown
+    // (used as a pure CSS stand-in for mat-form-field-should-float).
+    .mat-input-server[placeholder]:not(:placeholder-shown) + .mat-form-field-placeholder-wrapper
+        .mat-form-field-placeholder {
+      @include _mat-form-field-placeholder-floating(
               $subscript-font-scale, $infix-padding, $infix-margin-top);
     }
   }
diff --git a/src/lib/form-field/form-field.scss b/src/lib/form-field/form-field.scss
index 9f1b72717736..839d71814d31 100644
--- a/src/lib/form-field/form-field.scss
+++ b/src/lib/form-field/form-field.scss
@@ -138,6 +138,18 @@ $mat-form-field-default-infix-width: 180px !default;
   }
 }
 
+// Server-side rendered matInput with focus or a placeholder attribute but placeholder not shown
+// (used as a pure CSS stand-in for mat-form-field-should-float).
+.mat-input-server:focus + .mat-form-field-placeholder-wrapper .mat-form-field-placeholder,
+.mat-input-server[placeholder]:not(:placeholder-shown) + .mat-form-field-placeholder-wrapper
+    .mat-form-field-placeholder {
+  display: none;
+
+  .mat-form-field-can-float & {
+    display: block;
+  }
+}
+
 // Disable the placeholder animation when the control is not empty (this prevents placeholder
 // animating up when the value is set programmatically).
 .mat-form-field-placeholder:not(.mat-form-field-empty) {
diff --git a/src/lib/input/input.ts b/src/lib/input/input.ts
index cc4f82bc7875..51c0a842b1e2 100644
--- a/src/lib/input/input.ts
+++ b/src/lib/input/input.ts
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ import {Subject} from 'rxjs/Subject';
 import {getMatInputUnsupportedTypeError} from './input-errors';
 import {MAT_INPUT_VALUE_ACCESSOR} from './input-value-accessor';
 
+
 // Invalid input type. Using one of these will throw an MatInputUnsupportedTypeError.
 const MAT_INPUT_INVALID_TYPES = [
   'button',
@@ -50,6 +51,7 @@ let nextUniqueId = 0;
   exportAs: 'matInput',
   host: {
     'class': 'mat-input-element mat-form-field-autofill-control',
+    '[class.mat-input-server]': '_isServer',
     // Native input properties that are overwritten by Angular inputs need to be synced with
     // the native input element. Otherwise property bindings for those don't work.
     '[attr.id]': 'id',
@@ -86,6 +88,9 @@ export class MatInput implements MatFormFieldControl<any>, OnChanges, OnDestroy,
   /** The aria-describedby attribute on the input for improved a11y. */
   _ariaDescribedby: string;
 
+  /** Whether the component is being rendered on the server. */
+  _isServer = false;
+
   /**
    * Stream that emits whenever the state of the input changes such that the wrapping `MatFormField`
    * needs to run change detection.
@@ -187,6 +192,8 @@ export class MatInput implements MatFormFieldControl<any>, OnChanges, OnDestroy,
         }
       });
     }
+
+    this._isServer = !this._platform.isBrowser;
   }
 
   ngOnChanges() {
diff --git a/src/universal-app/kitchen-sink/kitchen-sink.html b/src/universal-app/kitchen-sink/kitchen-sink.html
index 6330e55cfc8d..cfb680ee394d 100644
--- a/src/universal-app/kitchen-sink/kitchen-sink.html
+++ b/src/universal-app/kitchen-sink/kitchen-sink.html
@@ -103,6 +103,10 @@ <h2>Icon</h2>
 
 <h2>Input</h2>
 
+<mat-form-field floatPlaceholder="never">
+  <input matInput placeholder="name">
+</mat-form-field>
+
 <mat-form-field>
   <input type="number" matInput placeholder="amount">
   <span matPrefix>$&nbsp;</span>