diff --git a/test_runner/performance/test_sharding_scale.py b/test_runner/performance/test_sharding_scale.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..fc2fa53979
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test_runner/performance/test_sharding_scale.py
@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+import concurrent.futures
+import threading
+
+from fixtures.log_helper import log
+from fixtures.neon_fixtures import (
+    NeonEnvBuilder,
+    PgBin,
+)
+from fixtures.types import TenantId, TimelineId
+
+
+def test_sharding_split_big_tenant(neon_env_builder: NeonEnvBuilder, pg_bin: PgBin):
+    """
+    Check that splitting works as expected for a tenant with a reasonable amount of data, larger
+    than we use in a typical test.
+    """
+    neon_env_builder.num_pageservers = 4
+    env = neon_env_builder.init_configs()
+    neon_env_builder.start()
+    tenant_id = TenantId.generate()
+    timeline_id = TimelineId.generate()
+    env.neon_cli.create_tenant(
+        tenant_id, timeline_id, shard_count=1, placement_policy='{"Attached":1}'
+    )
+
+    # TODO: a large scale/size
+    expect_size = 100e6
+    scale = 500
+
+    with concurrent.futures.ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=1) as executor:
+        with env.endpoints.create_start(
+            "main",
+            tenant_id=tenant_id,
+        ) as ep:
+            options = "-cstatement_timeout=0 " + ep.default_options.get("options", "")
+            connstr = ep.connstr(password=None, options=options)
+            password = ep.default_options.get("password", None)
+            environ = {}
+            if password is not None:
+                environ["PGPASSWORD"] = password
+            args = ["pgbench", f"-s{scale}", "-i", "-I", "dtGvp", connstr]
+
+            # Write a lot of data into the tenant
+            pg_bin.run(args, env=environ)
+
+            # Confirm that we have created a physical size as large as expected
+            timeline_info = env.storage_controller.pageserver_api().timeline_detail(
+                tenant_id, timeline_id
+            )
+            log.info(f"Timeline after init: {timeline_info}")
+            assert timeline_info["current_physical_size"] > expect_size
+
+            background_job_duration = 30
+            background_stop = threading.Event()
+
+            def background_load():
+                while not background_stop.is_set():
+                    args = [
+                        "pgbench",
+                        "-N",
+                        "-c4",
+                        f"-T{background_job_duration}",
+                        "-P2",
+                        "--progress-timestamp",
+                        connstr,
+                    ]
+                    pg_bin.run(args, env=environ)
+
+            bg_fut = executor.submit(background_load)
+
+            # Do a split while the endpoint is alive
+            env.storage_controller.tenant_shard_split(tenant_id, shard_count=4)
+
+            # Pump the scheduler to do all the changes it would do in the background
+            # after a shard split.
+            env.storage_controller.reconcile_until_idle(timeout_secs=300)
+
+            background_stop.set()
+            bg_fut.result(timeout=background_job_duration * 2)