diff --git a/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline/compaction.rs b/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline/compaction.rs
index 75ab593736..98854b6394 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline/compaction.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline/compaction.rs
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 //! The old legacy algorithm is implemented directly in `timeline.rs`.
 
 use std::collections::{BinaryHeap, HashSet};
+use std::future::Future;
 use std::ops::{Deref, Range};
 use std::sync::Arc;
 
@@ -26,6 +27,7 @@ use serde::Serialize;
 use tokio_util::sync::CancellationToken;
 use tracing::{debug, info, info_span, trace, warn, Instrument};
 use utils::id::TimelineId;
+use utils::sync::gate::GateGuard;
 
 use crate::context::{AccessStatsBehavior, RequestContext, RequestContextBuilder};
 use crate::page_cache;
@@ -870,6 +872,49 @@ impl Timeline {
             KeyLsn,
             KeyLsnValue,
         }
+        type IterItem = anyhow::Result<Option<(Key, Lsn, Value)>>;
+        enum MaybeSpawnedMergeIterator<'a> {
+            NotSpawned(MergeIterator<'a>),
+            Spawned {
+                rx: tokio::sync::mpsc::Receiver<IterItem>,
+            },
+        }
+        impl MaybeSpawnedMergeIterator<'a> {
+            pub fn not_spawned(deltas: &[ResidentDeltaLayer], ctx: &RequestContext) -> Self {
+                Self::NotSpawned(MergeIterator::create(&deltas, &[], ctx))
+            }
+            pub fn spawned(
+                timeline_gate_guard: GateGuard,
+                timeline_cancel: &CancellationToken,
+                deltas: Vec<ResidentDeltaLayer>,
+                ctx: &RequestContext,
+            ) -> Self {
+                let ctx = ctx.attached_child();
+                let (tx, rx) = tokio::sync::mpsc::channel(1);
+                // this task gets cancelled when the MaybeSpawnedMergeIterator is dropped, courtesy of the `tx.closed()` check
+                tokio::spawn(async move {
+                    let iter = MergeIterator::create(&deltas, &[], &ctx);
+                    loop {
+                        let item = tokio::select! {
+                            res = iter.next() => res,
+                            _ = tx.closed() => break,
+                        };
+                        let res = tx.send(item).await;
+                        if res.is_err() {
+                            break;
+                        }
+                    }
+                    drop(timeline_gate_guard);
+                });
+                Self::Spawned { rx }
+            }
+            pub async fn next(&mut self) -> IterItem {
+                match self {
+                    Self::NotSpawned(iter) => iter.next().await,
+                    Self::Spawned { rx, .. } => rx.recv().await.expect("the sender doesn't drop before the receiver and calling next() after receiving Ok(None) is an error"),
+                }
+            }
+        }
         type VecIter<'a> = std::slice::Iter<'a, DeltaEntry<'a>>; // TODO: distinguished lifetimes
         impl AllValuesIter<'_> {
             async fn next_all_keys_iter(
@@ -1007,7 +1052,7 @@ impl Timeline {
                         let l = l.get_as_delta(ctx).await.map_err(CompactionError::Other)?;
                         deltas.push(l);
                     }
-                    MergeIterator::create(&deltas, &[], ctx)
+                    MergeIterator::create(deltas, &[], ctx)
                 };
                 match validate {
                     None => AllValuesIter::StreamingKmergeBypassingPageCache { merge_iter },