diff --git a/pkgs/development/embedded/openocd/default.nix b/pkgs/development/embedded/openocd/default.nix
index 4915b6df765b..31e1a1cc3b28 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/embedded/openocd/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/embedded/openocd/default.nix
@@ -37,6 +37,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     map (hardware: "--enable-${hardware}") extraHardwareSupport
   ;
 
+  enableParallelBuilding = true;
+
   env.NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = toString (lib.optionals stdenv.cc.isGNU [
     "-Wno-error=cpp"
     "-Wno-error=strict-prototypes" # fixes build failure with hidapi 0.10.0