diff --git a/sdk_lib/make_conf_util.sh b/sdk_lib/make_conf_util.sh
index 6a8cd203d0..914b67eeb0 100644
--- a/sdk_lib/make_conf_util.sh
+++ b/sdk_lib/make_conf_util.sh
@@ -87,7 +87,8 @@ _create_host_setup() {
     _make_conf_fetchcommand "$fetchtype"
     _make_conf_private "$fetchtype"
     _make_conf_prebuilt
-    echo 'MAKEOPTS="-j'${NUM_JOBS}'"' ) | sudo_clobber "$host_setup"
+    echo "MAKEOPTS='--jobs=${NUM_JOBS} --load-average=${NUM_JOBS}'"
+  ) | sudo_clobber "$host_setup"
   sudo chmod 644 "$host_setup"
 }
 
diff --git a/setup_board b/setup_board
index 0dab416996..52ba61230b 100755
--- a/setup_board
+++ b/setup_board
@@ -300,7 +300,7 @@ sudo_clobber "${BOARD_SETUP}" <<EOF
 CHOST="${FLAGS_toolchain}"
 ROOT="${BOARD_ROOT}/"
 BOARD_OVERLAY="${BOARD_OVERLAY_LIST}"
-MAKEOPTS="-j${NUM_JOBS}"
+MAKEOPTS="--jobs=${NUM_JOBS} --load-average=${NUM_JOBS}"
 PKG_CONFIG="pkg-config-${BOARD_VARIANT}"
 BOARD_USE="${BOARD_VARIANT}"
 ${SAVED_VERSION}