diff --git a/virtcontainers/qemu_arm64.go b/virtcontainers/qemu_arm64.go
index 112631b09b..9385a533b5 100644
--- a/virtcontainers/qemu_arm64.go
+++ b/virtcontainers/qemu_arm64.go
@@ -107,8 +107,22 @@ func getGuestGICVersion() (version string) {
 	return "host"
 }
 
+//In qemu, maximum number of vCPUs depends on the GIC version, or on how
+//many redistributors we can fit into the memory map.
+//related codes are under github.com/qemu/qemu/hw/arm/virt.c(Line 135 and 1306 in stable-2.11)
+//for now, qemu only supports v2 and v3, we treat v4 as v3 based on
+//backward compatibility.
+var gicList = map[uint32]uint32{
+	uint32(2): uint32(8),
+	uint32(3): uint32(123),
+	uint32(4): uint32(123),
+}
+
 // MaxQemuVCPUs returns the maximum number of vCPUs supported
 func MaxQemuVCPUs() uint32 {
+	if hostGICVersion != 0 {
+		return gicList[hostGICVersion]
+	}
 	return uint32(runtime.NumCPU())
 }