diff --git a/write_buffer/src/kafka/mod.rs b/write_buffer/src/kafka/mod.rs
index 82a433a68f..f912cf9351 100644
--- a/write_buffer/src/kafka/mod.rs
+++ b/write_buffer/src/kafka/mod.rs
@@ -14,7 +14,10 @@ use crate::{
 use async_trait::async_trait;
 use data_types::{KafkaPartition, Sequence, SequenceNumber};
 use dml::{DmlMeta, DmlOperation};
-use futures::{stream::BoxStream, StreamExt};
+use futures::{
+    stream::{self, BoxStream},
+    StreamExt, TryStreamExt,
+};
 use iox_time::{Time, TimeProvider};
 use observability_deps::tracing::warn;
 use parking_lot::Mutex;
@@ -435,13 +438,20 @@ async fn setup_topic(
         // check if topic already exists
         let topics = client.list_topics().await?;
         if let Some(topic) = topics.into_iter().find(|t| t.name == topic_name) {
-            let mut partition_clients = BTreeMap::new();
-            for partition in topic.partitions {
-                let c = client.partition_client(&topic_name, partition).await?;
-                let partition = u32::try_from(partition).map_err(WriteBufferError::invalid_data)?;
-                partition_clients.insert(partition, c);
-            }
-            return Ok(partition_clients);
+            // Instantiate 10 partition clients concurrently until all are ready
+            // speed up server init.
+            let client_ref = &client;
+            return stream::iter(topic.partitions.into_iter().map(|p| {
+                let topic_name = topic_name.clone();
+                async move {
+                    let partition = u32::try_from(p).map_err(WriteBufferError::invalid_data)?;
+                    let c = client_ref.partition_client(&topic_name, p).await?;
+                    Ok((partition, c))
+                }
+            }))
+            .buffer_unordered(10)
+            .try_collect::<BTreeMap<_, _>>()
+            .await;
         }
 
         // create topic