diff --git a/.changeset/dirty-singers-enjoy.md b/.changeset/dirty-singers-enjoy.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..b02f166fec56
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/dirty-singers-enjoy.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@astrojs/mdx': patch
+---
+
+Add `optimize` option for faster builds and rendering
diff --git a/packages/integrations/mdx/README.md b/packages/integrations/mdx/README.md
index 53c3c9be95b9..e24a25efc396 100644
--- a/packages/integrations/mdx/README.md
+++ b/packages/integrations/mdx/README.md
@@ -83,6 +83,7 @@ You can configure how your MDX is rendered with the following options:
 - [Options inherited from Markdown config](#options-inherited-from-markdown-config)
 - [`extendMarkdownConfig`](#extendmarkdownconfig)
 - [`recmaPlugins`](#recmaplugins)
+- [`optimize`](#optimize)
 
 ### Options inherited from Markdown config
 
@@ -183,6 +184,71 @@ These are plugins that modify the output [estree](https://github.com/estree/estr
 
 We suggest [using AST Explorer](https://astexplorer.net/) to play with estree outputs, and trying [`estree-util-visit`](https://unifiedjs.com/explore/package/estree-util-visit/) for searching across JavaScript nodes.
 
+### `optimize`
+
+- **Type:** `boolean | { customComponentNames?: string[] }`
+
+This is an optional configuration setting to optimize the MDX output for faster builds and rendering via an internal rehype plugin. This may be useful if you have many MDX files and notice slow builds. However, this option may generate some unescaped HTML, so make sure your site's interactive parts still work correctly after enabling it.
+
+This is disabled by default. To enable MDX optimization, add the following to your MDX integration configuration:
+
+__`astro.config.mjs`__
+
+```js
+import { defineConfig } from 'astro/config';
+import mdx from '@astrojs/mdx';
+
+export default defineConfig({
+  integrations: [
+    mdx({
+      optimize: true,
+    })
+  ]
+});
+```
+
+#### `customComponentNames`
+
+- **Type:** `string[]`
+
+An optional property of `optimize` to prevent the MDX optimizer from handling any [custom components passed to imported MDX content via the components prop](https://docs.astro.build/en/guides/markdown-content/#custom-components-with-imported-mdx).
+
+You will need to exclude these components from optimization as the optimizer eagerly converts content into a static string, which will break custom components that needs to be dynamically rendered. 
+
+For example, the intended MDX output of the following is `<Heading>...</Heading>` in place of every `"<h1>...</h1>"`:
+
+```astro
+---
+import { Content, components } from '../content.mdx';
+import Heading from '../Heading.astro';
+---
+
+<Content components={{...components, h1: Heading }} />
+```
+
+To configure optimization for this using the `customComponentNames` property, specify an array of HTML element names that should be treated as custom components:
+
+__`astro.config.mjs`__
+
+```js
+import { defineConfig } from 'astro/config';
+import mdx from '@astrojs/mdx';
+
+export default defineConfig({
+  integrations: [
+    mdx({
+      optimize: {
+        // Prevent the optimizer from handling `h1` elements
+        // These will be treated as custom components
+        customComponentNames: ['h1'],
+      },
+    })
+  ]
+});
+```
+
+Note that if your MDX file [configures custom components using `export const components = { ... }`](https://docs.astro.build/en/guides/markdown-content/#assigning-custom-components-to-html-elements), then you do not need to manually configure this option. The optimizer will automatically detect them.
+
 ## Examples
 
 *   The [Astro MDX starter template](https://github.com/withastro/astro/tree/latest/examples/with-mdx) shows how to use MDX files in your Astro project.
diff --git a/packages/integrations/mdx/package.json b/packages/integrations/mdx/package.json
index 63d520cb136b..4b14dad2c2d3 100644
--- a/packages/integrations/mdx/package.json
+++ b/packages/integrations/mdx/package.json
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@
     "estree-util-visit": "^1.2.0",
     "github-slugger": "^1.4.0",
     "gray-matter": "^4.0.3",
+    "hast-util-to-html": "^8.0.4",
     "kleur": "^4.1.4",
     "rehype-raw": "^6.1.1",
     "remark-frontmatter": "^4.0.1",
diff --git a/packages/integrations/mdx/src/index.ts b/packages/integrations/mdx/src/index.ts
index 0d1ff9d1337a..e11cd1ac53c2 100644
--- a/packages/integrations/mdx/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/integrations/mdx/src/index.ts
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import { SourceMapGenerator } from 'source-map';
 import { VFile } from 'vfile';
 import type { Plugin as VitePlugin } from 'vite';
 import { getRehypePlugins, getRemarkPlugins, recmaInjectImportMetaEnvPlugin } from './plugins.js';
+import type { OptimizeOptions } from './rehype-optimize-static.js';
 import { getFileInfo, ignoreStringPlugins, parseFrontmatter } from './utils.js';
 
 export type MdxOptions = Omit<typeof markdownConfigDefaults, 'remarkPlugins' | 'rehypePlugins'> & {
@@ -21,6 +22,7 @@ export type MdxOptions = Omit<typeof markdownConfigDefaults, 'remarkPlugins' | '
 	remarkPlugins: PluggableList;
 	rehypePlugins: PluggableList;
 	remarkRehype: RemarkRehypeOptions;
+	optimize: boolean | OptimizeOptions;
 };
 
 type SetupHookParams = HookParameters<'astro:config:setup'> & {
@@ -194,6 +196,7 @@ function markdownConfigToMdxOptions(markdownConfig: typeof markdownConfigDefault
 		remarkPlugins: ignoreStringPlugins(markdownConfig.remarkPlugins),
 		rehypePlugins: ignoreStringPlugins(markdownConfig.rehypePlugins),
 		remarkRehype: (markdownConfig.remarkRehype as any) ?? {},
+		optimize: false,
 	};
 }
 
@@ -214,6 +217,7 @@ function applyDefaultOptions({
 		remarkPlugins: options.remarkPlugins ?? defaults.remarkPlugins,
 		rehypePlugins: options.rehypePlugins ?? defaults.rehypePlugins,
 		shikiConfig: options.shikiConfig ?? defaults.shikiConfig,
+		optimize: options.optimize ?? defaults.optimize,
 	};
 }
 
diff --git a/packages/integrations/mdx/src/plugins.ts b/packages/integrations/mdx/src/plugins.ts
index af9950451621..94c3c10ba00f 100644
--- a/packages/integrations/mdx/src/plugins.ts
+++ b/packages/integrations/mdx/src/plugins.ts
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import type { VFile } from 'vfile';
 import type { MdxOptions } from './index.js';
 import { rehypeInjectHeadingsExport } from './rehype-collect-headings.js';
 import rehypeMetaString from './rehype-meta-string.js';
+import { rehypeOptimizeStatic } from './rehype-optimize-static.js';
 import { remarkImageToComponent } from './remark-images-to-component.js';
 import remarkPrism from './remark-prism.js';
 import remarkShiki from './remark-shiki.js';
@@ -144,6 +145,13 @@ export function getRehypePlugins(mdxOptions: MdxOptions): PluggableList {
 		// computed from `astro.data.frontmatter` in VFile data
 		rehypeApplyFrontmatterExport,
 	];
+
+	if (mdxOptions.optimize) {
+		// Convert user `optimize` option to compatible `rehypeOptimizeStatic` option
+		const options = mdxOptions.optimize === true ? undefined : mdxOptions.optimize;
+		rehypePlugins.push([rehypeOptimizeStatic, options]);
+	}
+
 	return rehypePlugins;
 }
 
diff --git a/packages/integrations/mdx/src/rehype-optimize-static.ts b/packages/integrations/mdx/src/rehype-optimize-static.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..c476f7c83163
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/integrations/mdx/src/rehype-optimize-static.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,105 @@
+import { visit } from 'estree-util-visit';
+import { toHtml } from 'hast-util-to-html';
+
+// accessing untyped hast and mdx types
+type Node = any;
+
+export interface OptimizeOptions {
+	customComponentNames?: string[];
+}
+
+const exportConstComponentsRe = /export\s+const\s+components\s*=/;
+
+/**
+ * For MDX only, collapse static subtrees of the hast into `set:html`. Subtrees
+ * do not include any MDX elements.
+ *
+ * This optimization reduces the JS output as more content are represented as a
+ * string instead, which also reduces the AST size that Rollup holds in memory.
+ */
+export function rehypeOptimizeStatic(options?: OptimizeOptions) {
+	return (tree: any) => {
+		// A set of non-static components to avoid collapsing when walking the tree
+		// as they need to be preserved as JSX to be rendered dynamically.
+		const customComponentNames = new Set<string>(options?.customComponentNames);
+
+		// Find `export const components = { ... }` and get it's object's keys to be
+		// populated into `customComponentNames`. This configuration is used to render
+		// some HTML elements as custom components, and we also want to avoid collapsing them.
+		for (const child of tree.children) {
+			if (child.type === 'mdxjsEsm' && exportConstComponentsRe.test(child.value)) {
+				// Try to loosely get the object property nodes
+				const objectPropertyNodes = child.data.estree.body[0]?.declarations?.[0]?.init?.properties;
+				if (objectPropertyNodes) {
+					for (const objectPropertyNode of objectPropertyNodes) {
+						const componentName = objectPropertyNode.key?.name ?? objectPropertyNode.key?.value;
+						if (componentName) {
+							customComponentNames.add(componentName);
+						}
+					}
+				}
+			}
+		}
+
+		// All possible elements that could be the root of a subtree
+		const allPossibleElements = new Set<Node>();
+		// The current collapsible element stack while traversing the tree
+		const elementStack: Node[] = [];
+
+		visit(tree, {
+			enter(node) {
+				// @ts-expect-error read tagName naively
+				const isCustomComponent = node.tagName && customComponentNames.has(node.tagName);
+				// For nodes that can't be optimized, eliminate all elements in the
+				// `elementStack` from the `allPossibleElements` set.
+				if (node.type.startsWith('mdx') || isCustomComponent) {
+					for (const el of elementStack) {
+						allPossibleElements.delete(el);
+					}
+					// Micro-optimization: While this destroys the meaning of an element
+					// stack for this node, things will still work but we won't repeatedly
+					// run the above for other nodes anymore. If this is confusing, you can
+					// comment out the code below when reading.
+					elementStack.length = 0;
+				}
+				// For possible subtree root nodes, record them in `elementStack` and
+				// `allPossibleElements` to be used in the "leave" hook below.
+				if (node.type === 'element' || node.type === 'mdxJsxFlowElement') {
+					elementStack.push(node);
+					allPossibleElements.add(node);
+				}
+			},
+			leave(node, _, __, parents) {
+				// Do the reverse of the if condition above, popping the `elementStack`,
+				// and consolidating `allPossibleElements` as a subtree root.
+				if (node.type === 'element' || node.type === 'mdxJsxFlowElement') {
+					elementStack.pop();
+					// Many possible elements could be part of a subtree, in order to find
+					// the root, we check the parent of the element we're popping. If the
+					// parent exists in `allPossibleElements`, then we're definitely not
+					// the root, so remove ourselves. This will work retroactively as we
+					// climb back up the tree.
+					const parent = parents[parents.length - 1];
+					if (allPossibleElements.has(parent)) {
+						allPossibleElements.delete(node);
+					}
+				}
+			},
+		});
+
+		// For all possible subtree roots, collapse them into `set:html` and
+		// strip of their children
+		for (const el of allPossibleElements) {
+			if (el.type === 'mdxJsxFlowElement') {
+				el.attributes.push({
+					type: 'mdxJsxAttribute',
+					name: 'set:html',
+					value: toHtml(el.children),
+				});
+			} else {
+				el.properties['set:html'] = toHtml(el.children);
+			}
+			el.children = [];
+		}
+	};
+}
diff --git a/packages/integrations/mdx/test/fixtures/mdx-optimize/astro.config.mjs b/packages/integrations/mdx/test/fixtures/mdx-optimize/astro.config.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..b92b48617c28
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/integrations/mdx/test/fixtures/mdx-optimize/astro.config.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+import mdx from '@astrojs/mdx';
+
+export default {
+	integrations: [mdx({
+		optimize: {
+			customComponentNames: ['strong']
+		}
+	})]
+}
diff --git a/packages/integrations/mdx/test/fixtures/mdx-optimize/package.json b/packages/integrations/mdx/test/fixtures/mdx-optimize/package.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..69120477e21d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/integrations/mdx/test/fixtures/mdx-optimize/package.json
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+{
+  "name": "@test/mdx-optimize",
+  "private": true,
+  "dependencies": {
+    "@astrojs/mdx": "workspace:*",
+    "astro": "workspace:*"
+  }
+}
diff --git a/packages/integrations/mdx/test/fixtures/mdx-optimize/src/components/Blockquote.astro b/packages/integrations/mdx/test/fixtures/mdx-optimize/src/components/Blockquote.astro
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..aa55e82b1415
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/integrations/mdx/test/fixtures/mdx-optimize/src/components/Blockquote.astro
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+<blockquote {...Astro.props} class="custom-blockquote">
+  <slot />
+</blockquote>
diff --git a/packages/integrations/mdx/test/fixtures/mdx-optimize/src/components/Strong.astro b/packages/integrations/mdx/test/fixtures/mdx-optimize/src/components/Strong.astro
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..3c0b39ffceb5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/integrations/mdx/test/fixtures/mdx-optimize/src/components/Strong.astro
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+<strong {...Astro.props} class="custom-strong">
+  <slot />
+</strong>
diff --git a/packages/integrations/mdx/test/fixtures/mdx-optimize/src/pages/_imported.mdx b/packages/integrations/mdx/test/fixtures/mdx-optimize/src/pages/_imported.mdx
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..efe520341c14
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/integrations/mdx/test/fixtures/mdx-optimize/src/pages/_imported.mdx
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+I once heard a very **inspirational** quote:
+
+> I like pancakes
diff --git a/packages/integrations/mdx/test/fixtures/mdx-optimize/src/pages/import.astro b/packages/integrations/mdx/test/fixtures/mdx-optimize/src/pages/import.astro
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..b522a30280ca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/integrations/mdx/test/fixtures/mdx-optimize/src/pages/import.astro
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+---
+import { Content, components } from './index.mdx'
+import Strong from '../components/Strong.astro'
+---
+
+<!DOCTYPE html>
+<html>
+  <head>
+    <title>Import MDX component</title>
+  </head>
+  <body>
+    <h1>Astro page</h1>
+    <Content components={{ ...components, strong: Strong }} />
+  </body>
+</html>
diff --git a/packages/integrations/mdx/test/fixtures/mdx-optimize/src/pages/index.mdx b/packages/integrations/mdx/test/fixtures/mdx-optimize/src/pages/index.mdx
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..a3545bd8c805
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/integrations/mdx/test/fixtures/mdx-optimize/src/pages/index.mdx
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+import Blockquote from '../components/Blockquote.astro'
+
+export const components = {
+  blockquote: Blockquote
+}
+
+# MDX page
+
+I once heard a very inspirational quote:
+
+> I like pancakes
+
+```js
+const pancakes = 'yummy'
+```
diff --git a/packages/integrations/mdx/test/mdx-optimize.test.js b/packages/integrations/mdx/test/mdx-optimize.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..2e67a7064972
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/integrations/mdx/test/mdx-optimize.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+import { expect } from 'chai';
+import { parseHTML } from 'linkedom';
+import { loadFixture } from '../../../astro/test/test-utils.js';
+
+const FIXTURE_ROOT = new URL('./fixtures/mdx-optimize/', import.meta.url);
+
+describe('MDX optimize', () => {
+	let fixture;
+	before(async () => {
+		fixture = await loadFixture({
+			root: FIXTURE_ROOT,
+		});
+		await fixture.build();
+	});
+
+	it('renders an MDX page fine', async () => {
+		const html = await fixture.readFile('/index.html');
+		const { document } = parseHTML(html);
+
+		expect(document.querySelector('h1').textContent).include('MDX page');
+		expect(document.querySelector('p').textContent).include(
+			'I once heard a very inspirational quote:'
+		);
+
+		const blockquote = document.querySelector('blockquote.custom-blockquote');
+		expect(blockquote).to.not.be.null;
+		expect(blockquote.textContent).to.include('I like pancakes');
+
+		const code = document.querySelector('pre.astro-code');
+		expect(code).to.not.be.null;
+		expect(code.textContent).to.include(`const pancakes = 'yummy'`);
+	});
+
+	it('renders an Astro page that imports MDX fine', async () => {
+		const html = await fixture.readFile('/import/index.html');
+		const { document } = parseHTML(html);
+
+		expect(document.querySelector('h1').textContent).include('Astro page');
+		expect(document.querySelector('p').textContent).include(
+			'I once heard a very inspirational quote:'
+		);
+
+		const blockquote = document.querySelector('blockquote.custom-blockquote');
+		expect(blockquote).to.not.be.null;
+		expect(blockquote.textContent).to.include('I like pancakes');
+	});
+});
diff --git a/pnpm-lock.yaml b/pnpm-lock.yaml
index f5f47aa8cd55..9d6401b12cc7 100644
--- a/pnpm-lock.yaml
+++ b/pnpm-lock.yaml
@@ -4143,6 +4143,9 @@ importers:
       gray-matter:
         specifier: ^4.0.3
         version: 4.0.3
+      hast-util-to-html:
+        specifier: ^8.0.4
+        version: 8.0.4
       kleur:
         specifier: ^4.1.4
         version: 4.1.5
@@ -4316,6 +4319,15 @@ importers:
         specifier: ^18.1.0
         version: 18.2.0(react@18.2.0)
 
+  packages/integrations/mdx/test/fixtures/mdx-optimize:
+    dependencies:
+      '@astrojs/mdx':
+        specifier: workspace:*
+        version: link:../../..
+      astro:
+        specifier: workspace:*
+        version: link:../../../../../astro
+
   packages/integrations/mdx/test/fixtures/mdx-page:
     dependencies:
       '@astrojs/mdx':