diff --git a/cluster/gce/config-default.sh b/cluster/gce/config-default.sh
index d014395921b..c9175ffd607 100755
--- a/cluster/gce/config-default.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/config-default.sh
@@ -483,7 +483,7 @@ ROTATE_CERTIFICATES="${ROTATE_CERTIFICATES:-}"
 
 # The number of services that are allowed to sync concurrently. Will be passed
 # into kube-controller-manager via `--concurrent-service-syncs`
-CONCURRENT_SERVICE_SYNCS="${CONCURRENT_SERVICE_SYNCS:-}"
+CONCURRENT_SERVICE_SYNCS="${CONCURRENT_SERVICE_SYNCS:-5}"
 
 export SERVICEACCOUNT_ISSUER="https://kubernetes.io/${CLUSTER_NAME}"
 
diff --git a/cluster/gce/config-test.sh b/cluster/gce/config-test.sh
index 8a862d22578..6c8b84e5b16 100755
--- a/cluster/gce/config-test.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/config-test.sh
@@ -539,7 +539,7 @@ ROTATE_CERTIFICATES=${ROTATE_CERTIFICATES:-}
 
 # The number of services that are allowed to sync concurrently. Will be passed
 # into kube-controller-manager via `--concurrent-service-syncs`
-CONCURRENT_SERVICE_SYNCS=${CONCURRENT_SERVICE_SYNCS:-}
+CONCURRENT_SERVICE_SYNCS=${CONCURRENT_SERVICE_SYNCS:-5}
 
 # The value kubernetes.default.svc.cluster.local is only usable for full
 # OIDC discovery flows in Pods in the same cluster. For some providers
diff --git a/cluster/gce/gci/configure-helper.sh b/cluster/gce/gci/configure-helper.sh
index 2c7bc89c225..0e3dde374f8 100644
--- a/cluster/gce/gci/configure-helper.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/gci/configure-helper.sh
@@ -2301,6 +2301,7 @@ function start-cloud-controller-manager {
   params+=("--secure-port=10258")
   params+=("--use-service-account-credentials")
   params+=("--cloud-provider=gce")
+  params+=("--concurrent-node-syncs=10")
   params+=("--kubeconfig=/etc/srv/kubernetes/cloud-controller-manager/kubeconfig")
   params+=("--authorization-kubeconfig=/etc/srv/kubernetes/cloud-controller-manager/kubeconfig")
   params+=("--authentication-kubeconfig=/etc/srv/kubernetes/cloud-controller-manager/kubeconfig")