diff --git a/.github/workflows/build_and_test_maxtext.yml b/.github/workflows/build_and_test_maxtext.yml
index 169e6cc334..0887c9210a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build_and_test_maxtext.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build_and_test_maxtext.yml
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ jobs:
         fail-fast: false # don't cancel all jobs on failure
         matrix:
           image_type: ["py312"]
-          worker_group: [1, 2, 3, 4]
+          worker_group: [1, 2]
     with:
       device_type: cpu
       device_name: X64
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ jobs:
       container_resource_option: "--privileged"
       is_scheduled_run: ${{ github.event_name == 'schedule' }}
       worker_group: ${{ matrix.worker_group }}
-      total_workers: 4
+      total_workers: 2
 
   maxtext_tpu_unit_tests:
     needs: build_and_upload_maxtext_package
diff --git a/.github/workflows/run_tests_against_package.yml b/.github/workflows/run_tests_against_package.yml
index 8cd1013fd1..8ac8da6a5a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/run_tests_against_package.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/run_tests_against_package.yml
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@ jobs:
         TF_FORCE_GPU_ALLOW_GROWTH: ${{ inputs.tf_force_gpu_allow_growth }}
         TPU_SKIP_MDS_QUERY: ${{ inputs.device_type == 'cpu' && '1' || '' }}
         MAXTEXT_PACKAGE_EXTRA: ${{ inputs.device_type == 'cpu' && 'tpu' || inputs.device_type }}
+        ALLOW_MULTIPLE_LIBTPU_LOAD: ${{ inputs.device_type == 'cpu' && 'true' || '' }} # bypass /tmp/libtpu_lockfile check for cpu tests, which don't actually use accelerators (to allow concurrency)
       options: ${{ inputs.container_resource_option }}
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@11bd71901bbe5b1630ceea73d27597364c9af683 # v4.2.2
@@ -109,8 +110,8 @@ jobs:
             export LIBTPU_INIT_ARGS='--xla_tpu_scoped_vmem_limit_kib=65536'
           fi
           if [ "${{ inputs.total_workers }}" -gt 1 ]; then
-            .venv/bin/python3 -m pip install --quiet pytest-split
-            SPLIT_ARGS="--splits ${{ inputs.total_workers }} --group ${{ inputs.worker_group }}"
+            .venv/bin/python3 -m pip install --quiet pytest-split pytest-xdist
+            SPLIT_ARGS="--splits ${{ inputs.total_workers }} --group ${{ inputs.worker_group }} -n auto"
           else
             SPLIT_ARGS=""
           fi