diff --git a/etc/kayobe/seed.yml b/etc/kayobe/seed.yml
index 1f0a6e7c2..1aac3361b 100644
--- a/etc/kayobe/seed.yml
+++ b/etc/kayobe/seed.yml
@@ -111,8 +111,8 @@ seed_pulp_container:
     # s6-overlay-suexec starts as pid 1
     init: false
     env:
-      PULP_CONTENT_WORKERS: "{{ [ansible_facts.processor_vcpus * 2 + 1, 32] | min }}"
-      PULP_API_WORKERS: "{{ [ansible_facts.processor_vcpus * 2 + 1, 32] | min }}"
+      PULP_CONTENT_WORKERS: "{{ [ansible_facts.processor_vcpus * 2 + 1, 12] | min }}"
+      PULP_API_WORKERS: "{{ [ansible_facts.processor_vcpus * 2 + 1, 12] | min }}"
       PULP_HTTPS: "{{ 'true' if pulp_enable_tls | bool else 'false' }}"
     volumes:
       - /opt/kayobe/containers/pulp:/etc/pulp
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/reduce-seed-pulp-workers-b085c86bfe7ab5b6.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/reduce-seed-pulp-workers-b085c86bfe7ab5b6.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..387e75b04
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/reduce-seed-pulp-workers-b085c86bfe7ab5b6.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+---
+fixes:
+  - |
+    Reduce the maximum number of PULP_CONTENT_WORKERS and PULP_API_WORKERS
+    to 12 to prevent connection starvation on seed hosts with more than 12
+    cpu threads.