diff --git a/.circleci/config.yml b/.circleci/config.yml
index 6ba440d4..23d00724 100644
--- a/.circleci/config.yml
+++ b/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ jobs:
 #          command: |
 #            ./build/make-4.2.1/make \
 #                CROSS=/cross/bin/x86_64-linux-musl- \
-#                --load 2 \
+#                CPUS=2 \
 #                V=1 \
 #                BOARD=qemu-linuxboot \
 #
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ jobs:
           name: x230-flash
           #We delete build/make-4.2.1/ directory until issue #799 is fixed.
           command: |
-            rm -rf build/x230-flash/* build/log/* && make --load 2 \
+            rm -rf build/x230-flash/* build/log/* && make CPUS=2 \
                 V=1 \
                 BOARD=x230-flash || (find ./build/ -name "*.log" -type f -mmin -1|while read log; do echo ""; echo '==>' "$log" '<=='; echo ""; cat $log;done; exit 1) \
           no_output_timeout: 3h
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ jobs:
       - run:
           name: t430-flash
           command: |
-            rm -rf build/t430-flash/* build/log/* && make --load 2 \
+            rm -rf build/t430-flash/* build/log/* && make CPUS=2 \
                 V=1 \
                 BOARD=t430-flash || (find ./build/ -name "*.log" -type f -mmin -1|while read log; do echo ""; echo '==>' "$log" '<=='; echo ""; cat $log;done; exit 1) \
           no_output_timeout: 3h
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ jobs:
       - run:
           name: t430
           command: |
-            rm -rf build/t430/* build/log/* && make --load 2 \
+            rm -rf build/t430/* build/log/* && make CPUS=2 \
                 V=1 \
                 BOARD=t430  || (find ./build/ -name "*.log" -type f -mmin -1|while read log; do echo ""; echo '==>' "$log" '<=='; echo ""; cat $log;done; exit 1) \
           no_output_timeout: 3h
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ jobs:
       - run:
           name: x230
           command: |
-            rm -rf build/x230/* build/log/* && make --load 2 \
+            rm -rf build/x230/* build/log/* && make CPUS=2 \
                 V=1 \
                 BOARD=x230 || (find ./build/ -name "*.log" -type f -mmin -1|while read log; do echo ""; echo '==>' "$log" '<=='; echo ""; cat $log;done; exit 1) \
           no_output_timeout: 3h
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ jobs:
       - run:
           name: x230-hotp-verification
           command: |
-            rm -rf build/x230-hotp-verification/* build/log/* && make --load 2 \
+            rm -rf build/x230-hotp-verification/* build/log/* && make CPUS=2 \
                 V=1 \
                 BOARD=x230-hotp-verification || (find ./build/ -name "*.log" -type f -mmin -1|while read log; do echo ""; echo '==>' "$log" '<=='; echo ""; cat $log;done; exit 1) \
           no_output_timeout: 3h
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ jobs:
       - run:
           name: librem_mini-NoTPM
           command: |
-            rm -rf build/librem_mini-NoTPM/* build/log/* && make --load 2 \
+            rm -rf build/librem_mini-NoTPM/* build/log/* && make CPUS=2 \
                 V=1 \
                 BOARD=librem_mini-NoTPM || (find ./build/ -name "*.log" -type f -mmin -1|while read log; do echo ""; echo '==>' "$log" '<=='; echo ""; cat $log;done; exit 1) \
           no_output_timeout: 3h
@@ -171,7 +171,7 @@ jobs:
       - run:
           name: qemu-coreboot
           command: |
-            rm -rf build/qemu-coreboot/* build/log/* && make --load 2 \
+            rm -rf build/qemu-coreboot/* build/log/* && make CPUS=2 \
                 V=1 \
                 BOARD=qemu-coreboot || (find ./build/ -name "*.log" -type f -mmin -1|while read log; do echo ""; echo '==>' "$log" '<=='; echo ""; cat $log;done; exit 1) \
           no_output_timeout: 3h
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index fd76b057..42fad6e0 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ INSTALL		:= $(pwd)/install
 log_dir		:= $(build)/log
 
 # Controls how many parallel jobs are invoked in subshells
-CPUS		:= $(shell nproc)
+CPUS		?= $(shell nproc)
 #MAKE_JOBS	?= -j$(CPUS) --max-load 16
 
 # Create the log directory if it doesn't already exist
diff --git a/modules/coreboot b/modules/coreboot
index f9134dac..04d8f943 100644
--- a/modules/coreboot
+++ b/modules/coreboot
@@ -67,12 +67,12 @@ $(COREBOOT_TOOLCHAIN):
 else
 COREBOOT_TOOLCHAIN="$(build)/$(coreboot_base_dir)/.xcompile"
 $(COREBOOT_TOOLCHAIN): $(build)/$(coreboot_base_dir)/.canary
-	$(MAKE) -C "$(build)/$(coreboot_base_dir)" CPUS=`nproc` crossgcc-i386
+	$(MAKE) -C "$(build)/$(coreboot_base_dir)" CPUS=$$CPUS crossgcc-i386
 endif
 
 $(build)/$(coreboot_dir)/.configured: $(COREBOOT_IASL) $(COREBOOT_TOOLCHAIN)
 $(COREBOOT_IASL): $(build)/$(coreboot_base_dir)/.canary
-	$(MAKE) -C "$(build)/$(coreboot_base_dir)" CPUS=`nproc` iasl
+	$(MAKE) -C "$(build)/$(coreboot_base_dir)" CPUS=$$CPUS iasl
 
 # Force a rebuild if the inputs have changed
 $(build)/$(coreboot_dir)/.build: \
diff --git a/modules/linuxboot b/modules/linuxboot
index 4e04a9e3..57ea31a2 100644
--- a/modules/linuxboot
+++ b/modules/linuxboot
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ linuxboot_configure := \
 	if [ "$(linuxboot_board)" = "qemu" ]; then \
 		echo >&2 "Pre-building edk2 OVMF" ; \
 		( cd $(build)/$(linuxboot_base_dir)/edk2/OvmfPkg ; \
-		./build.sh -n `nproc` \
+		./build.sh -n $$CPUS \
 		) || exit 1 ; \
 	fi ; \
 	touch .config ; \