diff --git a/.bazelrc b/.bazelrc
index b5e80e362d3..03d77aca38f 100644
--- a/.bazelrc
+++ b/.bazelrc
@@ -14,6 +14,10 @@ common --noenable_bzlmod
 # also explore --remote_download_minimal.
 build --remote_download_all
 
+# Provide more build jobs than there are cores so that we can run cache fetching actions and build
+# locally at a higher rate – using the cache generally uses little CPU.
+build --jobs=18
+
 # Enable webgpu
 build --//src/workerd/io:enable_experimental_webgpu=True
 
diff --git a/.bazelversion b/.bazelversion
index a8907c025d5..a34fffd52bf 100644
--- a/.bazelversion
+++ b/.bazelversion
@@ -1 +1 @@
-7.0.2
+7.1.0rc2