diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/cavium/thunder/nicvf_main.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/cavium/thunder/nicvf_main.c
index 805ab45e9b5a..2237ef8e4344 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/cavium/thunder/nicvf_main.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/cavium/thunder/nicvf_main.c
@@ -1832,6 +1832,11 @@ static int nicvf_probe(struct pci_dev *pdev, const struct pci_device_id *ent)
 	nic->pdev = pdev;
 	nic->pnicvf = nic;
 	nic->max_queues = qcount;
+	/* If no of CPUs are too low, there won't be any queues left
+	 * for XDP_TX, hence double it.
+	 */
+	if (!nic->t88)
+		nic->max_queues *= 2;
 
 	/* MAP VF's configuration registers */
 	nic->reg_base = pcim_iomap(pdev, PCI_CFG_REG_BAR_NUM, 0);