diff --git a/tsdb/engine.go b/tsdb/engine.go
index 1055713614..5e63a2ee33 100644
--- a/tsdb/engine.go
+++ b/tsdb/engine.go
@@ -162,6 +162,9 @@ type EngineOptions struct {
 	ShardID       uint64
 	InmemIndex    interface{} // shared in-memory index
 
+	// Limits the concurrent number of TSM files that can be loaded at once.
+	OpenLimiter limiter.Fixed
+
 	CompactionPlannerCreator    CompactionPlannerCreator
 	CompactionLimiter           limiter.Fixed
 	CompactionThroughputLimiter limiter.Rate
diff --git a/tsdb/engine/tsm1/engine.go b/tsdb/engine/tsm1/engine.go
index c5ee56282c..f3f1eba41a 100644
--- a/tsdb/engine/tsm1/engine.go
+++ b/tsdb/engine/tsm1/engine.go
@@ -204,6 +204,7 @@ func NewEngine(id uint64, idx tsdb.Index, path string, walPath string, sfile *ts
 	}
 
 	fs := NewFileStore(path)
+	fs.openLimiter = opt.OpenLimiter
 	if opt.FileStoreObserver != nil {
 		fs.WithObserver(opt.FileStoreObserver)
 	}
diff --git a/tsdb/engine/tsm1/file_store.go b/tsdb/engine/tsm1/file_store.go
index a48a7bd0e1..ba86a46fb9 100644
--- a/tsdb/engine/tsm1/file_store.go
+++ b/tsdb/engine/tsm1/file_store.go
@@ -172,6 +172,8 @@ type FileStore struct {
 
 	files []TSMFile
 
+	openLimiter limiter.Fixed // limit the number of concurrent opening TSM files.
+
 	logger       *zap.Logger // Logger to be used for important messages
 	traceLogger  *zap.Logger // Logger to be used when trace-logging is on.
 	traceLogging bool
@@ -217,6 +219,7 @@ func NewFileStore(dir string) *FileStore {
 		lastModified: time.Time{},
 		logger:       logger,
 		traceLogger:  logger,
+		openLimiter:  limiter.NewFixed(runtime.GOMAXPROCS(0)),
 		stats:        &FileStoreStatistics{},
 		purger: &purger{
 			files:  map[string]TSMFile{},
@@ -500,6 +503,12 @@ func (f *FileStore) Open() error {
 		}
 
 		go func(idx int, file *os.File) {
+			// Ensure a limited number of TSM files are loaded at once.
+			// Systems which have very large datasets (1TB+) can have thousands
+			// of TSM files which can cause extremely long load times.
+			f.openLimiter.Take()
+			defer f.openLimiter.Release()
+
 			start := time.Now()
 			df, err := NewTSMReader(file)
 			f.logger.Info("Opened file",
diff --git a/tsdb/store.go b/tsdb/store.go
index 5c11b777f1..a951776243 100644
--- a/tsdb/store.go
+++ b/tsdb/store.go
@@ -206,6 +206,9 @@ func (s *Store) loadShards() error {
 		err error
 	}
 
+	// Limit the number of concurrent TSM files to be opened to the number of cores.
+	s.EngineOptions.OpenLimiter = limiter.NewFixed(runtime.GOMAXPROCS(0))
+
 	// Setup a shared limiter for compactions
 	lim := s.EngineOptions.Config.MaxConcurrentCompactions
 	if lim == 0 {