diff --git a/boards/arm64/qemu_cortex_a53/qemu_cortex_a53_smp_defconfig b/boards/arm64/qemu_cortex_a53/qemu_cortex_a53_smp_defconfig
index 9205434a7c7..dbb3dd1ea7c 100644
--- a/boards/arm64/qemu_cortex_a53/qemu_cortex_a53_smp_defconfig
+++ b/boards/arm64/qemu_cortex_a53/qemu_cortex_a53_smp_defconfig
@@ -24,3 +24,4 @@ CONFIG_MP_NUM_CPUS=2
 CONFIG_CACHE_MANAGEMENT=y
 CONFIG_TIMEOUT_64BIT=y
 CONFIG_ARMV8_A_NS=y
+CONFIG_MAX_THREAD_BYTES=3