diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/i40e/i40e_main.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/i40e/i40e_main.c
index 7fab60128c76..f0edea7cdbcc 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/i40e/i40e_main.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/i40e/i40e_main.c
@@ -11863,6 +11863,7 @@ static int i40e_sw_init(struct i40e_pf *pf)
 {
 	int err = 0;
 	int size;
+	u16 pow;
 
 	/* Set default capability flags */
 	pf->flags = I40E_FLAG_RX_CSUM_ENABLED |
@@ -11881,6 +11882,11 @@ static int i40e_sw_init(struct i40e_pf *pf)
 	pf->rss_table_size = pf->hw.func_caps.rss_table_size;
 	pf->rss_size_max = min_t(int, pf->rss_size_max,
 				 pf->hw.func_caps.num_tx_qp);
+
+	/* find the next higher power-of-2 of num cpus */
+	pow = roundup_pow_of_two(num_online_cpus());
+	pf->rss_size_max = min_t(int, pf->rss_size_max, pow);
+
 	if (pf->hw.func_caps.rss) {
 		pf->flags |= I40E_FLAG_RSS_ENABLED;
 		pf->alloc_rss_size = min_t(int, pf->rss_size_max,