diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel/generic.nix b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel/generic.nix
index 15811713324..40860384122 100644
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel/generic.nix
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel/generic.nix
@@ -60,6 +60,8 @@ in
 stdenv.mkDerivation {
   name = if userModeLinux then "user-mode-linux-${version}" else "linux-${version}";
 
+  enableParallelBuilding = true;
+
   passthru = {
     inherit version;
     # Combine the `features' attribute sets of all the kernel patches.