diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/protobuf/3.0.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/protobuf/3.0.nix
index f0bc0ca79f2b..a06d4cef968a 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/protobuf/3.0.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/protobuf/3.0.nix
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   buildInputs = [ autoreconfHook zlib ];
 
+  enableParallelBuilding = true;
+
   doCheck = true;
 
   meta = {