diff --git a/boards/arm64/qemu_cortex_a53/Kconfig.defconfig b/boards/arm64/qemu_cortex_a53/Kconfig.defconfig
index cbe833f42f6ff9..68e9da200733e1 100644
--- a/boards/arm64/qemu_cortex_a53/Kconfig.defconfig
+++ b/boards/arm64/qemu_cortex_a53/Kconfig.defconfig
@@ -9,4 +9,7 @@ config BUILD_OUTPUT_BIN
 config BOARD
 	default "qemu_cortex_a53"
 
+config MAX_THREAD_BYTES
+	default 3
+
 endif # BOARD_QEMU_CORTEX_A53
diff --git a/boards/arm64/qemu_cortex_a53/qemu_cortex_a53_smp_defconfig b/boards/arm64/qemu_cortex_a53/qemu_cortex_a53_smp_defconfig
index 496e633201a014..ad9011aa3b760c 100644
--- a/boards/arm64/qemu_cortex_a53/qemu_cortex_a53_smp_defconfig
+++ b/boards/arm64/qemu_cortex_a53/qemu_cortex_a53_smp_defconfig
@@ -29,4 +29,3 @@ CONFIG_PM_CPU_OPS=y
 CONFIG_SMP=y
 CONFIG_MP_MAX_NUM_CPUS=2
 CONFIG_TIMEOUT_64BIT=y
-CONFIG_MAX_THREAD_BYTES=3