diff --git a/src/util/meson.build b/src/util/meson.build
index 8008c986bfc..832890784cf 100644
--- a/src/util/meson.build
+++ b/src/util/meson.build
@@ -409,6 +409,7 @@ if with_tests
     ),
     suite : ['util'],
     protocol : 'gtest',
+    is_parallel : false,
     timeout : 180,
   )
 
diff --git a/src/util/tests/sparse_array_test.cpp b/src/util/tests/sparse_array_test.cpp
index eeca8d35f9e..d9b43862764 100644
--- a/src/util/tests/sparse_array_test.cpp
+++ b/src/util/tests/sparse_array_test.cpp
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ TEST(SparseArrayTest, Multithread)
       struct util_sparse_array arr;
       util_sparse_array_init(&arr, sizeof(uint32_t), node_size);
 
-      thrd_t threads[16];
+      thrd_t threads[8];
       for (unsigned i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE(threads); i++) {
          int ret = thrd_create(&threads[i], test_thread, &arr);
          ASSERT_EQ(ret, thrd_success);