diff --git a/tripleo_common/actions/ansible.py b/tripleo_common/actions/ansible.py
index 72227695c..b1018eca2 100644
--- a/tripleo_common/actions/ansible.py
+++ b/tripleo_common/actions/ansible.py
@@ -104,7 +104,8 @@ def write_default_ansible_cfg(work_dir,
                     datetime.now().strftime("%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S"))
         os.rename(log_path, new_path)
 
-    config.set('defaults', 'forks', str(multiprocessing.cpu_count() * 10))
+    config.set('defaults', 'forks', str(min(
+        multiprocessing.cpu_count() * 4, 100)))
     config.set('defaults', 'timeout', '30')
     config.set('defaults', 'gather_timeout', '30')
 
diff --git a/tripleo_common/tests/actions/test_ansible.py b/tripleo_common/tests/actions/test_ansible.py
index 385cb7e41..3b97b3b4b 100644
--- a/tripleo_common/tests/actions/test_ansible.py
+++ b/tripleo_common/tests/actions/test_ansible.py
@@ -348,4 +348,4 @@ class CopyConfigFileTest(base.TestCase):
             ansible_cfg = configparser.ConfigParser()
             ansible_cfg.read(resulting_ansible_config)
 
-            self.assertEqual('40', ansible_cfg.get('defaults', 'forks'))
+            self.assertEqual('16', ansible_cfg.get('defaults', 'forks'))