diff --git a/config/ppc/meson.build b/config/ppc/meson.build
index 0d8da87e6fc..ed6ea07d245 100644
--- a/config/ppc/meson.build
+++ b/config/ppc/meson.build
@@ -17,7 +17,18 @@ if not power9_supported
 	dpdk_conf.set('RTE_MACHINE','power8')
 endif
 
-# overrides specific to ppc64
-dpdk_conf.set('RTE_MAX_LCORE', 1536)
-dpdk_conf.set('RTE_MAX_NUMA_NODES', 32)
+# Certain POWER9 systems can scale as high as 1536 LCORES, but setting such a
+# high value can waste memory, cause timeouts in time limited autotests, and is
+# unlikely to be used in many production situations.  Similarly, keeping the
+# default 64 LCORES seems too small as most POWER9 dual socket systems will have
+# at least 128 LCORES available.  Set RTE_MAX_LCORE to 128 for POWER systems as
+# a compromise.
+dpdk_conf.set('RTE_MAX_LCORE', 128)
+
+# POWER systems do not allocate NUMA nodes sequentially.  A dual socket system
+# will have CPUs associated with NUMA nodes 0 & 8, so ensure that the second
+# NUMA node will be supported by setting RTE_MAX_NUMA_NODES to 16. High end
+# systems can scale even higher with as many as 32 NUMA nodes.
+dpdk_conf.set('RTE_MAX_NUMA_NODES', 16)
+
 dpdk_conf.set('RTE_CACHE_LINE_SIZE', 128)