diff --git a/deep_speech_2/data_utils/data.py b/deep_speech_2/data_utils/data.py
index fe064b8062d75364b49c7b84a4c5879d329c0296..34f32019c238b3c2082ffdc809527b7cf6c49d0a 100644
--- a/deep_speech_2/data_utils/data.py
+++ b/deep_speech_2/data_utils/data.py
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ class DataGenerator(object):
                  max_freq=None,
                  specgram_type='linear',
                  use_dB_normalization=True,
-                 num_threads=multiprocessing.cpu_count(),
+                 num_threads=multiprocessing.cpu_count() // 2,
                  random_seed=0):
         self._max_duration = max_duration
         self._min_duration = min_duration
diff --git a/deep_speech_2/evaluate.py b/deep_speech_2/evaluate.py
index fb7211fc2aaa8dfd086116e8fb29afe6c0087ce9..592b7b527a692dd7dfa2a93799828fb77066948c 100644
--- a/deep_speech_2/evaluate.py
+++ b/deep_speech_2/evaluate.py
@@ -45,12 +45,12 @@ parser.add_argument(
     help="Use gpu or not. (default: %(default)s)")
 parser.add_argument(
     "--num_threads_data",
-    default=multiprocessing.cpu_count(),
+    default=multiprocessing.cpu_count() // 2,
     type=int,
     help="Number of cpu threads for preprocessing data. (default: %(default)s)")
 parser.add_argument(
     "--num_processes_beam_search",
-    default=multiprocessing.cpu_count(),
+    default=multiprocessing.cpu_count() // 2,
     type=int,
     help="Number of cpu processes for beam search. (default: %(default)s)")
 parser.add_argument(
diff --git a/deep_speech_2/infer.py b/deep_speech_2/infer.py
index 8fd27dce4a1eafe7acd5fd4190833004339965c7..df5953e59fd198951babeabe3fa27ae680ef0ad6 100644
--- a/deep_speech_2/infer.py
+++ b/deep_speech_2/infer.py
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ parser.add_argument(
     help="Number of cpu threads for preprocessing data. (default: %(default)s)")
 parser.add_argument(
     "--num_processes_beam_search",
-    default=multiprocessing.cpu_count(),
+    default=multiprocessing.cpu_count() // 2,
     type=int,
     help="Number of cpu processes for beam search. (default: %(default)s)")
 parser.add_argument(
diff --git a/deep_speech_2/train.py b/deep_speech_2/train.py
index 080f57d2d4012f37719f021b6ae6156230dcd9e0..aff6193796e48a8f8db349d3865b064c9a4f5f56 100644
--- a/deep_speech_2/train.py
+++ b/deep_speech_2/train.py
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ parser.add_argument(
     help="Trainer number. (default: %(default)s)")
 parser.add_argument(
     "--num_threads_data",
-    default=multiprocessing.cpu_count(),
+    default=multiprocessing.cpu_count() // 2,
     type=int,
     help="Number of cpu threads for preprocessing data. (default: %(default)s)")
 parser.add_argument(
diff --git a/deep_speech_2/tune.py b/deep_speech_2/tune.py
index a17be30fa80892e924461ad6e5d6ca263429d9f4..328d67a1197634e5f02ad0689056196a8904fc06 100644
--- a/deep_speech_2/tune.py
+++ b/deep_speech_2/tune.py
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ parser.add_argument(
     help="Number of cpu threads for preprocessing data. (default: %(default)s)")
 parser.add_argument(
     "--num_processes_beam_search",
-    default=multiprocessing.cpu_count(),
+    default=multiprocessing.cpu_count() // 2,
     type=int,
     help="Number of cpu processes for beam search. (default: %(default)s)")
 parser.add_argument(