diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 66583095a6e77..ab3196fc44a7f 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -47,6 +47,24 @@ endif
 cy = meson.get_compiler('cython')
 if cy.version().version_compare('>=3.1.0')
     add_project_arguments('-Xfreethreading_compatible=true', language: 'cython')
+
+    # Use shared utility code to reduce wheel sizes
+    # copied from https://github.com/scikit-learn/scikit-learn/pull/31151/files
+    cy = find_program(cy.cmd_array()[0])
+    cython_shared_src = custom_target(
+        install: false,
+        output: '_cyutility.c',
+        command: [
+        cy, '-3', '--fast-fail',
+        '--generate-shared=' + meson.current_build_dir()/'_cyutility.c'
+        ],
+    )
+
+    py.extension_module('_cyutility',
+        cython_shared_src,
+        subdir: 'pandas/_libs',
+        install: true,
+    )
 endif
 
 # Needed by pandas.test() when it looks for the pytest ini options
diff --git a/pandas/_libs/meson.build b/pandas/_libs/meson.build
index a50976767928a..33fc65e5034d0 100644
--- a/pandas/_libs/meson.build
+++ b/pandas/_libs/meson.build
@@ -148,6 +148,12 @@ if get_option('buildtype') == 'debug'
     cython_args += ['--gdb']
 endif
 
+# Use shared utility code to reduce wheel sizes
+# copied from https://github.com/scikit-learn/scikit-learn/pull/31151/files
+if cy.version().version_compare('>=3.1.0')
+    cython_args += ['--shared=pandas._libs._cyutility']
+endif
+
 foreach ext_name, ext_dict : libs_sources
     py.extension_module(
         ext_name,
diff --git a/pandas/_libs/tslibs/meson.build b/pandas/_libs/tslibs/meson.build
index 052a8568b76af..ac43dc7db5fb7 100644
--- a/pandas/_libs/tslibs/meson.build
+++ b/pandas/_libs/tslibs/meson.build
@@ -28,6 +28,12 @@ if get_option('buildtype') == 'debug'
     cython_args += ['--gdb']
 endif
 
+# Use shared utility code to reduce wheel sizes
+# copied from https://github.com/scikit-learn/scikit-learn/pull/31151/files
+if cy.version().version_compare('>=3.1.0')
+    cython_args += ['--shared=pandas._libs._cyutility']
+endif
+
 foreach ext_name, ext_dict : tslibs_sources
     py.extension_module(
         ext_name,
diff --git a/pandas/_libs/window/meson.build b/pandas/_libs/window/meson.build
index 1d49bba47e139..78169e781bc47 100644
--- a/pandas/_libs/window/meson.build
+++ b/pandas/_libs/window/meson.build
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 py.extension_module(
     'aggregations',
     ['aggregations.pyx'],
-    cython_args: ['-X always_allow_keywords=true'],
+    cython_args: ['-X always_allow_keywords=true', '--shared=pandas._libs._cyutility'],
     include_directories: [inc_np, inc_pd],
     subdir: 'pandas/_libs/window',
     override_options: ['cython_language=cpp'],
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ py.extension_module(
 py.extension_module(
     'indexers',
     ['indexers.pyx'],
-    cython_args: ['-X always_allow_keywords=true'],
+    cython_args: ['-X always_allow_keywords=true', '--shared=pandas._libs._cyutility'],
     include_directories: [inc_np, inc_pd],
     subdir: 'pandas/_libs/window',
     install: true,
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 3f7b6a672e1b0..a2b51aca0178b 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ requires = [
     "meson-python>=0.13.1",
     "meson>=1.2.1,<2",
     "wheel",
-    "Cython~=3.0.5",  # Note: sync with setup.py, environment.yml and asv.conf.json
+    "Cython==3.1.0rc1",  # Note: sync with setup.py, environment.yml and asv.conf.json
     # Force numpy higher than 2.0rc1, so that built wheels are compatible
     # with both numpy 1 and 2
     "numpy>=2.0.0rc1",