diff --git a/packager/react-packager/src/node-haste/Module.js b/packager/react-packager/src/node-haste/Module.js
index 7bf4976b3..2f914585a 100644
--- a/packager/react-packager/src/node-haste/Module.js
+++ b/packager/react-packager/src/node-haste/Module.js
@@ -32,6 +32,12 @@ import type Cache from './Cache';
 import type DependencyGraphHelpers from './DependencyGraph/DependencyGraphHelpers';
 import type ModuleCache from './ModuleCache';
 
+/**
+ * If the global cache returns empty that many times, we give up using the
+ * global cache for that instance. This speeds up the build.
+ */
+const GLOBAL_CACHE_MAX_MISSES = 250;
+
 type ReadResult = {
   code: string,
   dependencies?: ?Array<string>,
@@ -78,6 +84,7 @@ class Module {
   _readPromises: Map<string, Promise<ReadResult>>;
 
   static _globalCacheRetries: number;
+  static _globalCacheMaxMisses: number;
 
   constructor({
     file,
@@ -261,7 +268,9 @@ class Module {
     callback: (error: ?Error, result: ?TransformedCode) => void,
   ) {
     const globalCache = GlobalTransformCache.get();
-    if (Module._globalCacheRetries <= 0 || globalCache == null) {
+    const noMoreRetries = Module._globalCacheRetries <= 0;
+    const tooManyMisses = Module._globalCacheMaxMisses <= 0;
+    if (globalCache == null || noMoreRetries || tooManyMisses) {
       this._transformCodeForCallback(cacheProps, callback);
       return;
     }
@@ -280,9 +289,19 @@ class Module {
         }
       }
       if (globalCachedResult == null) {
+        --Module._globalCacheMaxMisses;
+        if (Module._globalCacheMaxMisses === 0) {
+          terminal.log(
+            'warning: global cache is now disabled because it ' +
+              'has been missing too many consecutive keys.',
+          );
+        }
         this._transformAndStoreCodeGlobally(cacheProps, globalCache, callback);
         return;
       }
+      if (Module._globalCacheMaxMisses < GLOBAL_CACHE_MAX_MISSES) {
+        ++Module._globalCacheMaxMisses;
+      }
       callback(undefined, globalCachedResult);
     });
   }
@@ -382,6 +401,7 @@ class Module {
 }
 
 Module._globalCacheRetries = 4;
+Module._globalCacheMaxMisses = GLOBAL_CACHE_MAX_MISSES;
 
 // use weak map to speed up hash creation of known objects
 const knownHashes = new WeakMap();