diff --git a/src/dev/typescript/exec_in_projects.ts b/src/dev/typescript/exec_in_projects.ts
index 12e64e63ab3c4d..a04b775fd82140 100644
--- a/src/dev/typescript/exec_in_projects.ts
+++ b/src/dev/typescript/exec_in_projects.ts
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@
  * under the License.
  */
 
+import os from 'os';
+
 import { ToolingLog } from '@kbn/dev-utils';
 import chalk from 'chalk';
 import execa from 'execa';
@@ -47,7 +49,7 @@ export function execInProjects(
       title: project.name,
     })),
     {
-      concurrent: true,
+      concurrent: Math.min(4, Math.round((os.cpus() || []).length / 2) || 1) || false,
       exitOnError: false,
     }
   );
diff --git a/src/dev/typescript/run_type_check_cli.ts b/src/dev/typescript/run_type_check_cli.ts
index f0ddf6f56e359c..bf6e8711fa81e9 100644
--- a/src/dev/typescript/run_type_check_cli.ts
+++ b/src/dev/typescript/run_type_check_cli.ts
@@ -87,5 +87,10 @@ export function runTypeCheckCli() {
     process.exit(1);
   }
 
-  execInProjects(log, projects, 'tsc', project => ['--project', project.tsConfigPath, ...tscArgs]);
+  execInProjects(log, projects, process.execPath, project => [
+    ...(project.name === 'x-pack' ? ['--max-old-space-size=2048'] : []),
+    require.resolve('typescript/bin/tsc'),
+    ...['--project', project.tsConfigPath],
+    ...tscArgs,
+  ]);
 }