diff --git a/src/huggingface_hub/utils/_token.py b/src/huggingface_hub/utils/_token.py
index 511ff5d577..32362b3929 100644
--- a/src/huggingface_hub/utils/_token.py
+++ b/src/huggingface_hub/utils/_token.py
@@ -15,13 +15,16 @@
 import os
 import warnings
 from pathlib import Path
+from threading import Lock
 from typing import Optional
 
 from .. import constants
 from ._runtime import is_google_colab
 
 
-_CHECK_GOOGLE_COLAB_SECRET = True
+_IS_GOOGLE_COLAB_CHECKED = False
+_GOOGLE_COLAB_SECRET_LOCK = Lock()
+_GOOGLE_COLAB_SECRET: Optional[str] = None
 
 
 def get_token() -> Optional[str]:
@@ -42,52 +45,66 @@ def get_token() -> Optional[str]:
 
 
 def _get_token_from_google_colab() -> Optional[str]:
-    if not is_google_colab():
-        return None
-
-    global _CHECK_GOOGLE_COLAB_SECRET
-    if not _CHECK_GOOGLE_COLAB_SECRET:  # request access only once
-        return None
-
-    try:
-        from google.colab import userdata
-        from google.colab.errors import Error as ColabError
-    except ImportError:
-        return None
+    """Get token from Google Colab secrets vault using `google.colab.userdata.get(...)`.
 
-    try:
-        token = userdata.get("HF_TOKEN")
-    except userdata.NotebookAccessError:
-        # Means the user has a secret call `HF_TOKEN` and got a popup "please grand access to HF_TOKEN" and refused it
-        # => warn user but ignore error => do not re-request access to user
-        warnings.warn(
-            "\nAccess to the secret `HF_TOKEN` has not been granted on this notebook."
-            "\nYou will not be requested again."
-            "\nPlease restart the session if you want to be prompted again."
-        )
-        _CHECK_GOOGLE_COLAB_SECRET = False
-        return None
-    except userdata.SecretNotFoundError:
-        # Means the user did not define a `HF_TOKEN` secret => warn
-        warnings.warn(
-            "\nThe secret `HF_TOKEN` does not exist in your Colab secrets."
-            "\nTo authenticate with the Hugging Face Hub, create a token in your settings tab "
-            "(https://huggingface.co/settings/tokens), set it as secret in your Google Colab and restart your session."
-            "\nYou will be able to reuse this secret in all of your notebooks."
-            "\nPlease note that authentication is recommended but still optional to access public models or datasets."
-        )
-        return None
-    except ColabError as e:
-        # Something happen but we don't know what => recommend to open a GitHub issue
-        warnings.warn(
-            f"\nError while fetching `HF_TOKEN` secret value from your vault: '{str(e)}'."
-            "\nYou are not authenticated with the Hugging Face Hub in this notebook."
-            "\nIf the error persists, please let us know by opening an issue on GitHub "
-            "(https://github.com/huggingface/huggingface_hub/issues/new)."
-        )
+    Token is read from the vault only once per session and then stored in a global variable to avoid re-requesting
+    access to the vault.
+    """
+    if not is_google_colab():
         return None
 
-    return _clean_token(token)
+    # `google.colab.userdata` is not thread-safe
+    # This can lead to a deadlock if multiple threads try to access it at the same time
+    # (typically when using `snapshot_download`)
+    # => use a lock
+    # See https://github.com/huggingface/huggingface_hub/issues/1952 for more details.
+    with _GOOGLE_COLAB_SECRET_LOCK:
+        global _GOOGLE_COLAB_SECRET
+        global _IS_GOOGLE_COLAB_CHECKED
+
+        if _IS_GOOGLE_COLAB_CHECKED:  # request access only once
+            return _GOOGLE_COLAB_SECRET
+
+        try:
+            from google.colab import userdata
+            from google.colab.errors import Error as ColabError
+        except ImportError:
+            return None
+
+        try:
+            token = userdata.get("HF_TOKEN")
+            _GOOGLE_COLAB_SECRET = _clean_token(token)
+        except userdata.NotebookAccessError:
+            # Means the user has a secret call `HF_TOKEN` and got a popup "please grand access to HF_TOKEN" and refused it
+            # => warn user but ignore error => do not re-request access to user
+            warnings.warn(
+                "\nAccess to the secret `HF_TOKEN` has not been granted on this notebook."
+                "\nYou will not be requested again."
+                "\nPlease restart the session if you want to be prompted again."
+            )
+            _GOOGLE_COLAB_SECRET = None
+        except userdata.SecretNotFoundError:
+            # Means the user did not define a `HF_TOKEN` secret => warn
+            warnings.warn(
+                "\nThe secret `HF_TOKEN` does not exist in your Colab secrets."
+                "\nTo authenticate with the Hugging Face Hub, create a token in your settings tab "
+                "(https://huggingface.co/settings/tokens), set it as secret in your Google Colab and restart your session."
+                "\nYou will be able to reuse this secret in all of your notebooks."
+                "\nPlease note that authentication is recommended but still optional to access public models or datasets."
+            )
+            _GOOGLE_COLAB_SECRET = None
+        except ColabError as e:
+            # Something happen but we don't know what => recommend to open a GitHub issue
+            warnings.warn(
+                f"\nError while fetching `HF_TOKEN` secret value from your vault: '{str(e)}'."
+                "\nYou are not authenticated with the Hugging Face Hub in this notebook."
+                "\nIf the error persists, please let us know by opening an issue on GitHub "
+                "(https://github.com/huggingface/huggingface_hub/issues/new)."
+            )
+            _GOOGLE_COLAB_SECRET = None
+
+        _IS_GOOGLE_COLAB_CHECKED = True
+        return _GOOGLE_COLAB_SECRET
 
 
 def _get_token_from_environment() -> Optional[str]: