diff --git a/rten-simd/src/isa_detection.rs b/rten-simd/src/isa_detection.rs
index 38ccbb15..65d398bb 100644
--- a/rten-simd/src/isa_detection.rs
+++ b/rten-simd/src/isa_detection.rs
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 /// Functions for reading system info on macOS.
 #[cfg(target_os = "macos")]
 #[allow(unused)]
-mod macos {
+pub mod macos {
     /// Detect availability of AVX-512 on macOS, where `is_x86_feature_detected`
     /// can return false even if AVX-512 is available.
     ///
diff --git a/src/threading.rs b/src/threading.rs
index bf92c96f..66d47dee 100644
--- a/src/threading.rs
+++ b/src/threading.rs
@@ -24,6 +24,24 @@ impl ThreadPool {
     }
 }
 
+/// Return the optimal number of cores to use for maximum performance.
+///
+/// This may be less than the total number of cores on systems with heterogenous
+/// cores (eg. a mix of performance and efficiency).
+fn optimal_core_count() -> u32 {
+    let mut core_count = num_cpus::get_physical().max(1) as u32;
+
+    #[cfg(target_os = "macos")]
+    {
+        use rten_simd::isa_detection::macos::sysctl_int;
+        if let Ok(perf_core_count) = sysctl_int(c"hw.perflevel0.physicalcpu") {
+            core_count = core_count.clamp(1, perf_core_count as u32);
+        }
+    }
+
+    core_count
+}
+
 /// Return the [Rayon][rayon] thread pool which is used to execute RTen models.
 ///
 /// This differs from Rayon's default global thread pool in that it is tuned for
@@ -41,12 +59,12 @@ impl ThreadPool {
 pub fn thread_pool() -> &'static ThreadPool {
     static THREAD_POOL: OnceLock<ThreadPool> = OnceLock::new();
     THREAD_POOL.get_or_init(|| {
-        let physical_cpus = num_cpus::get_physical();
+        let physical_cpus = optimal_core_count();
 
         let num_threads = if let Some(threads_var) = env::var_os("RTEN_NUM_THREADS") {
-            let requested_threads: Result<usize, _> = threads_var.to_string_lossy().parse();
+            let requested_threads: Result<u32, _> = threads_var.to_string_lossy().parse();
             match requested_threads {
-                Ok(n_threads) => n_threads.clamp(1, num_cpus::get()),
+                Ok(n_threads) => n_threads.clamp(1, num_cpus::get() as u32),
                 Err(_) => physical_cpus,
             }
         } else {
@@ -54,10 +72,22 @@ pub fn thread_pool() -> &'static ThreadPool {
         };
 
         let pool = rayon::ThreadPoolBuilder::new()
-            .num_threads(num_threads)
+            .num_threads(num_threads as usize)
             .thread_name(|index| format!("rten-{}", index))
             .build();
 
         ThreadPool { pool: pool.ok() }
     })
 }
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::optimal_core_count;
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_optimal_core_count() {
+        let max_cores = num_cpus::get_physical() as u32;
+        let opt_cores = optimal_core_count();
+        assert!(opt_cores >= 1 && opt_cores <= max_cores);
+    }
+}