diff --git a/dev/create-release/release-build.sh b/dev/create-release/release-build.sh
index ef7e1523ea..f406be9548 100755
--- a/dev/create-release/release-build.sh
+++ b/dev/create-release/release-build.sh
@@ -162,6 +162,8 @@ git clean -d -f -x
 rm -f .gitignore
 cd ..
 
+export MAVEN_OPTS="-Xmx12g"
+
 if [[ "$1" == "package" ]]; then
   # Source and binary tarballs
   echo "Packaging release source tarballs"