diff --git a/pkgs/development/compilers/swift/compiler/default.nix b/pkgs/development/compilers/swift/compiler/default.nix
index 651c6faa566c..8e8cf798db4f 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/compilers/swift/compiler/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/compilers/swift/compiler/default.nix
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 , coreutils
 , gnugrep
 , perl
-, ninja
+, ninja_1_11
 , pkg-config
 , clang
 , bintools
@@ -190,6 +190,14 @@ let
     '';
   };
 
+  # https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/327836
+  # Fail to build with ninja 1.12 when NIX_BUILD_CORES is low (Hydra or Github Actions).
+  # Can reproduce using `nix --option cores 2 build -f . swiftPackages.swift-unwrapped`.
+  # Until we find out the exact cause, follow [swift upstream][1], pin ninja to version
+  # 1.11.1.
+  # [1]: https://github.com/swiftlang/swift/pull/72989
+  ninja = ninja_1_11;
+
 in stdenv.mkDerivation {
   pname = "swift";
   inherit (sources) version;