diff --git a/meta/classes/package_rpm.bbclass b/meta/classes/package_rpm.bbclass
index 198a6d0afda..ec31adf967c 100644
--- a/meta/classes/package_rpm.bbclass
+++ b/meta/classes/package_rpm.bbclass
@@ -680,6 +680,7 @@ python do_package_rpm () {
     cmd = cmd + " --define '_use_internal_dependency_generator 0'"
     cmd = cmd + " --define '_binaries_in_noarch_packages_terminate_build 0'"
     cmd = cmd + " --define '_build_id_links none'"
+    cmd = cmd + " --define '_smp_ncpus_max 4'"
     cmd = cmd + " --define '_source_payload %s'" % rpmbuild_compmode
     cmd = cmd + " --define '_binary_payload %s'" % rpmbuild_compmode
     cmd = cmd + " --define 'clamp_mtime_to_source_date_epoch 1'"