diff --git a/src/runtime/virtcontainers/qemu.go b/src/runtime/virtcontainers/qemu.go
index f4de0d0d2..a3c14b25c 100644
--- a/src/runtime/virtcontainers/qemu.go
+++ b/src/runtime/virtcontainers/qemu.go
@@ -618,6 +618,13 @@ func (q *qemu) CreateVM(ctx context.Context, id string, network Network, hypervi
 			// headaches in the future.
 			knobs.FileBackedMem = false
 			knobs.MemShared = false
+
+			// SMP is currently broken with TDX 1.5, and
+			// we must ensure we use something like:
+			// `...,sockets=1,cores=numvcpus,threads=1,...`
+			smp.Sockets = 1
+			smp.Cores = q.config.NumVCPUs
+			smp.Threads = 1
 		}
 	}