diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-images.yml b/.github/workflows/build-images.yml
index 5d1acf8c..bcf08295 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build-images.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-images.yml
@@ -19,6 +19,9 @@ on:
       version:
        required: false
        type: string
+      parallel:
+       required: false
+       type: string      
       board:
        required: false
        type: string
@@ -111,7 +114,7 @@ jobs:
     if: ${{ needs.prepare.outputs.matrix != '[]' && needs.prepare.outputs.matrix != '' }}
     timeout-minutes: 120
     strategy:
-      max-parallel: 16 # we are running 6 chunks which comes to 96 parallel builds (could be too much)
+      max-parallel: "${{ needs.prepare.outputs.parallel || '16' }}" # we are running 6 chunks which comes to 96 parallel builds (could be too much)
       fail-fast: false # let other jobs try to complete if one fails
       matrix:
         include: ${{ fromJSON(needs.prepare.outputs.matrix) }}