diff --git a/keyserver/internal/device_list_update.go b/keyserver/internal/device_list_update.go
index 4d1b1107c..ff57be00e 100644
--- a/keyserver/internal/device_list_update.go
+++ b/keyserver/internal/device_list_update.go
@@ -319,7 +319,7 @@ func (u *DeviceListUpdater) worker(ch chan gomatrixserverlib.ServerName) {
 }
 
 func (u *DeviceListUpdater) processServer(serverName gomatrixserverlib.ServerName) (time.Duration, bool) {
-	requestTimeout := time.Minute // max amount of time we want to spend on each request
+	requestTimeout := time.Second * 30 // max amount of time we want to spend on each request
 	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), requestTimeout)
 	defer cancel()
 	logger := util.GetLogger(ctx).WithField("server_name", serverName)