diff --git a/src/infra/vitest-config.test.ts b/src/infra/vitest-config.test.ts
index 883144316fc..22f3e3ebae5 100644
--- a/src/infra/vitest-config.test.ts
+++ b/src/infra/vitest-config.test.ts
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ describe("resolveLocalVitestMaxWorkers", () => {
         "threads",
         idleVitestStats,
       ),
-    ).toBe(1);
+    ).toBe(2);
   });
 
   it("caps very large hosts at six local workers", () => {
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ describe("resolveLocalVitestMaxWorkers", () => {
 });
 
 describe("resolveLocalVitestScheduling", () => {
-  it("falls back to serial when other Vitest workers are already active", () => {
+  it("scales back to half capacity when other Vitest work is already consuming most cores", () => {
     expect(
       resolveLocalVitestScheduling(
         {},
@@ -138,19 +138,19 @@ describe("resolveLocalVitestScheduling", () => {
         },
         "threads",
         {
-          otherVitestRootCount: 1,
-          otherVitestWorkerCount: 3,
-          otherVitestCpuPercent: 120,
+          otherVitestRootCount: 2,
+          otherVitestWorkerCount: 12,
+          otherVitestCpuPercent: 1200,
         },
       ),
     ).toEqual({
-      maxWorkers: 1,
-      fileParallelism: false,
+      maxWorkers: 4,
+      fileParallelism: true,
       throttledBySystem: true,
     });
   });
 
-  it("caps moderate contention to two workers", () => {
+  it("keeps big hosts parallel under moderate contention", () => {
     expect(
       resolveLocalVitestScheduling(
         {},
@@ -162,12 +162,12 @@ describe("resolveLocalVitestScheduling", () => {
         "threads",
         {
           otherVitestRootCount: 1,
-          otherVitestWorkerCount: 0,
-          otherVitestCpuPercent: 10,
+          otherVitestWorkerCount: 7,
+          otherVitestCpuPercent: 700,
         },
       ),
     ).toEqual({
-      maxWorkers: 2,
+      maxWorkers: 6,
       fileParallelism: true,
       throttledBySystem: true,
     });
diff --git a/vitest.shared.config.ts b/vitest.shared.config.ts
index d387b9bb2f9..cc02c2ba161 100644
--- a/vitest.shared.config.ts
+++ b/vitest.shared.config.ts
@@ -134,28 +134,27 @@ export function resolveLocalVitestScheduling(
     };
   }
 
+  const totalCpuPercentCapacity = Math.max(100, cpuCount * 100);
+  const otherVitestCpuRatio = processStats.otherVitestCpuPercent / totalCpuPercentCapacity;
+  const otherVitestWorkerRatio = processStats.otherVitestWorkerCount / cpuCount;
+
   const highSystemContention =
-    loadRatio >= 1 ||
-    processStats.otherVitestWorkerCount >= 2 ||
-    processStats.otherVitestCpuPercent >= 150 ||
-    processStats.otherVitestRootCount >= 2;
+    loadRatio >= 1 || otherVitestWorkerRatio >= 0.75 || otherVitestCpuRatio >= 0.75;
 
   if (highSystemContention) {
+    const maxWorkers = Math.max(1, Math.floor(inferred / 2));
     return {
-      maxWorkers: 1,
-      fileParallelism: false,
-      throttledBySystem: true,
+      maxWorkers,
+      fileParallelism: maxWorkers > 1,
+      throttledBySystem: maxWorkers < inferred,
     };
   }
 
   const moderateSystemContention =
-    loadRatio >= 0.75 ||
-    processStats.otherVitestWorkerCount >= 1 ||
-    processStats.otherVitestCpuPercent >= 75 ||
-    processStats.otherVitestRootCount >= 1;
+    loadRatio >= 0.75 || otherVitestWorkerRatio >= 0.4 || otherVitestCpuRatio >= 0.4;
 
   if (moderateSystemContention) {
-    const maxWorkers = Math.min(inferred, 2);
+    const maxWorkers = Math.max(2, Math.ceil(inferred * 0.75));
     return {
       maxWorkers,
       fileParallelism: true,