diff --git a/lite/tools/build.sh b/lite/tools/build.sh
index ee12feb18ccfaf793a153cf46da546873b58b512..6ec275c77481a8e43f80579a27e00572a4a53a76 100755
--- a/lite/tools/build.sh
+++ b/lite/tools/build.sh
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ readonly CMAKE_COMMON_OPTIONS="-DWITH_GPU=OFF \
                                -DLITE_WITH_ARM=ON \
                                -DLITE_WITH_LIGHT_WEIGHT_FRAMEWORK=ON"
 
+readonly NUM_PROC=${LITE_BUILD_THREADS:-4}
+
 
 # global variables
 BUILD_EXTRA=OFF
@@ -70,7 +72,7 @@ function make_tiny_publish_so {
       -DLITE_BUILD_EXTRA=$BUILD_EXTRA \
       -DARM_TARGET_OS=${os} -DARM_TARGET_ARCH_ABI=${abi} -DARM_TARGET_LANG=${lang}
 
-  make publish_inference -j4
+  make publish_inference -j$NUM_PROC
   cd - > /dev/null
 }
 
diff --git a/lite/tools/ci_build.sh b/lite/tools/ci_build.sh
index 248550c9cdedc9bff9aa7a74cddb9ef342d8364b..80432f4378cd615109c0647b8667cc69417bbe6a 100755
--- a/lite/tools/ci_build.sh
+++ b/lite/tools/ci_build.sh
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ readonly common_flags="-DWITH_LITE=ON -DLITE_WITH_LIGHT_WEIGHT_FRAMEWORK=OFF -DW
 readonly THIRDPARTY_TAR=https://paddle-inference-dist.bj.bcebos.com/PaddleLite/third-party-05b862.tar.gz
 readonly workspace=$PWD
 
-NUM_CORES_FOR_COMPILE=8
+NUM_CORES_FOR_COMPILE=${LITE_BUILD_THREADS:-8}
 
 function prepare_thirdparty {
     if [ ! -d $workspace/third-party -o -f $workspace/third-party-05b862.tar.gz ]; then