diff --git a/tools/make-functions b/tools/make-functions
index 3b878fb00..1ff4613f3 100644
--- a/tools/make-functions
+++ b/tools/make-functions
@@ -138,7 +138,13 @@ configure_build() {
 	# Enables hardening
 	HARDENING_CFLAGS="-Wp,-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -fstack-protector-strong --param=ssp-buffer-size=4"
 
-	CFLAGS="-O2 -pipe -Wall -fexceptions -fPIC ${CFLAGS_ARCH}"
+	CFLAGS="-O2 -Wall -fexceptions -fPIC ${CFLAGS_ARCH}"
+
+	# Run compiler and assembler simultaneously on systems that have enough memory
+	if [ ${HOST_MEM} -ge 1024 ]; then
+		CFLAGS="${CFLAGS} -pipe"
+	fi
+
 	CXXFLAGS="${CFLAGS}"
 }