diff --git a/src/grimp/application/usecases.py b/src/grimp/application/usecases.py
index bb43d7a8..e19bb6e8 100644
--- a/src/grimp/application/usecases.py
+++ b/src/grimp/application/usecases.py
@@ -15,13 +15,15 @@
 from ..domain.valueobjects import DirectImport, Module
 from .config import settings
 
-N_CPUS = multiprocessing.cpu_count()
-
 
 class NotSupplied:
     pass
 
 
+# This is an arbitrary number, but setting it too low slows down our functional tests considerably.
+MIN_NUMBER_OF_MODULES_TO_SCAN_USING_MULTIPROCESSING = 50
+
+
 def build_graph(
     package_name,
     *additional_package_names,
@@ -209,32 +211,66 @@ def _scan_imports(
     include_external_packages: bool,
     exclude_type_checking_imports: bool,
 ) -> Dict[ModuleFile, Set[DirectImport]]:
-    import_scanner: AbstractImportScanner = settings.IMPORT_SCANNER_CLASS(
-        file_system=file_system,
-        found_packages=found_packages,
-        include_external_packages=include_external_packages,
+    chunks = _create_chunks(module_files)
+    return _scan_chunks(
+        chunks,
+        file_system,
+        found_packages,
+        include_external_packages,
+        exclude_type_checking_imports,
     )
 
-    imports_by_module_file: Dict[ModuleFile, Set[DirectImport]] = {}
 
-    n_chunks = min(N_CPUS, len(module_files))
-    chunks = _create_chunks(list(module_files), n_chunks=n_chunks)
-    with multiprocessing.Pool(n_chunks) as pool:
-        import_scanning_jobs = pool.starmap(
-            _scan_chunk,
-            [(import_scanner, exclude_type_checking_imports, chunk) for chunk in chunks],
-        )
-        for chunk_imports_by_module_file in import_scanning_jobs:
-            imports_by_module_file.update(chunk_imports_by_module_file)
+def _create_chunks(module_files: Collection[ModuleFile]) -> tuple[tuple[ModuleFile, ...], ...]:
+    """
+    Split the module files into chunks, each to be worked on by a separate OS process.
+    """
+    module_files_tuple = tuple(module_files)
 
-    return imports_by_module_file
+    number_of_module_files = len(module_files_tuple)
+    n_chunks = _decide_number_of_of_processes(number_of_module_files)
+    chunk_size = math.ceil(number_of_module_files / n_chunks)
+
+    return tuple(
+        module_files_tuple[i * chunk_size : (i + 1) * chunk_size] for i in range(n_chunks)
+    )
 
 
-def _create_chunks(
-    module_files: Sequence[ModuleFile], *, n_chunks: int
-) -> Iterable[Iterable[ModuleFile]]:
-    chunk_size = math.ceil(len(module_files) / n_chunks)
-    return [module_files[i * chunk_size : (i + 1) * chunk_size] for i in range(n_chunks)]
+def _decide_number_of_of_processes(number_of_module_files: int) -> int:
+    if number_of_module_files < MIN_NUMBER_OF_MODULES_TO_SCAN_USING_MULTIPROCESSING:
+        # Don't incur the overhead of multiprocessing.
+        return 1
+    return min(multiprocessing.cpu_count(), number_of_module_files)
+
+
+def _scan_chunks(
+    chunks: Collection[Collection[ModuleFile]],
+    file_system: AbstractFileSystem,
+    found_packages: Set[FoundPackage],
+    include_external_packages: bool,
+    exclude_type_checking_imports: bool,
+) -> Dict[ModuleFile, Set[DirectImport]]:
+    import_scanner: AbstractImportScanner = settings.IMPORT_SCANNER_CLASS(
+        file_system=file_system,
+        found_packages=found_packages,
+        include_external_packages=include_external_packages,
+    )
+
+    number_of_processes = len(chunks)
+    if number_of_processes == 1:
+        # No need to spawn a process if there's only one chunk.
+        [chunk] = chunks
+        return _scan_chunk(import_scanner, exclude_type_checking_imports, chunk)
+    else:
+        with multiprocessing.Pool(number_of_processes) as pool:
+            imports_by_module_file: Dict[ModuleFile, Set[DirectImport]] = {}
+            import_scanning_jobs = pool.starmap(
+                _scan_chunk,
+                [(import_scanner, exclude_type_checking_imports, chunk) for chunk in chunks],
+            )
+            for chunk_imports_by_module_file in import_scanning_jobs:
+                imports_by_module_file.update(chunk_imports_by_module_file)
+        return imports_by_module_file
 
 
 def _scan_chunk(
diff --git a/tests/functional/test_build_and_use_graph.py b/tests/functional/test_build_and_use_graph.py
index ed2ce877..76b728e7 100644
--- a/tests/functional/test_build_and_use_graph.py
+++ b/tests/functional/test_build_and_use_graph.py
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 from grimp import build_graph
 from typing import Set, Tuple, Optional
 import pytest
+from unittest.mock import patch
+from grimp.application import usecases
 
 """
 For ease of reference, these are the imports of all the files:
@@ -53,6 +55,33 @@ def test_modules():
     }
 
 
+@patch.object(usecases, "MIN_NUMBER_OF_MODULES_TO_SCAN_USING_MULTIPROCESSING", 0)
+def test_modules_multiprocessing():
+    """
+    This test runs relatively slowly, but it's important we cover the multiprocessing code.
+    """
+    graph = build_graph("testpackage", cache_dir=None)
+
+    assert graph.modules == {
+        "testpackage",
+        "testpackage.one",
+        "testpackage.one.alpha",
+        "testpackage.one.beta",
+        "testpackage.one.gamma",
+        "testpackage.one.delta",
+        "testpackage.one.delta.blue",
+        "testpackage.two",
+        "testpackage.two.alpha",
+        "testpackage.two.beta",
+        "testpackage.two.gamma",
+        "testpackage.utils",
+        "testpackage.three",
+        "testpackage.three.beta",
+        "testpackage.three.gamma",
+        "testpackage.three.alpha",
+    }
+
+
 def test_add_module():
     graph = build_graph("testpackage", cache_dir=None)
     number_of_modules = len(graph.modules)