diff --git a/vllm/envs.py b/vllm/envs.py
index 2c731eda7836a..bb419dacb1ee8 100644
--- a/vllm/envs.py
+++ b/vllm/envs.py
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ if TYPE_CHECKING:
     VLLM_LOGGING_LEVEL: str = "INFO"
     VLLM_LOGGING_PREFIX: str = ""
     VLLM_LOGGING_CONFIG_PATH: Optional[str] = None
+    VLLM_LOGITS_PROCESSOR_THREADS: Optional[int] = None
     VLLM_TRACE_FUNCTION: int = 0
     VLLM_ATTENTION_BACKEND: Optional[str] = None
     VLLM_USE_FLASHINFER_SAMPLER: Optional[bool] = None
@@ -282,6 +283,14 @@ environment_variables: Dict[str, Callable[[], Any]] = {
     "VLLM_LOGGING_PREFIX":
     lambda: os.getenv("VLLM_LOGGING_PREFIX", ""),
 
+    # if set, vllm will call logits processors in a thread pool with this many
+    # threads. This is useful when using custom logits processors that either
+    # (a) launch additional CUDA kernels or (b) do significant CPU-bound work
+    # while not holding the python GIL, or both.
+    "VLLM_LOGITS_PROCESSOR_THREADS":
+    lambda: int(os.getenv("VLLM_LOGITS_PROCESSOR_THREADS", "0"))
+    if "VLLM_LOGITS_PROCESSOR_THREADS" in os.environ else None,
+
     # Trace function calls
     # If set to 1, vllm will trace function calls
     # Useful for debugging
diff --git a/vllm/model_executor/layers/logits_processor.py b/vllm/model_executor/layers/logits_processor.py
index ebf74c67d64cd..cdc67ca83d489 100644
--- a/vllm/model_executor/layers/logits_processor.py
+++ b/vllm/model_executor/layers/logits_processor.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 """A layer that compute logits from hidden_stats."""
 import inspect
+from concurrent.futures import ThreadPoolExecutor
 from typing import Optional
 
 import torch
@@ -15,6 +16,11 @@ from vllm.model_executor.layers.vocab_parallel_embedding import (
 from vllm.model_executor.sampling_metadata import SamplingMetadata
 from vllm.platforms import current_platform
 
+_logits_processor_threadpool: Optional[ThreadPoolExecutor] = None
+if envs.VLLM_LOGITS_PROCESSOR_THREADS is not None:
+    _logits_processor_threadpool = ThreadPoolExecutor(
+        envs.VLLM_LOGITS_PROCESSOR_THREADS)
+
 
 class LogitsProcessor(nn.Module):
     """Process logits and apply logits processors from sampling metadata.
@@ -135,6 +141,7 @@ def _apply_logits_processors(
 ) -> torch.Tensor:
     found_logits_processors = False
     logits_processed = 0
+    logits_row_ids_and_logits_row_futures = []
     for seq_group in sampling_metadata.seq_groups:
         seq_ids = seq_group.seq_ids
         sampling_params = seq_group.sampling_params
@@ -148,22 +155,39 @@ def _apply_logits_processors(
                 past_tokens_ids = seq_group.seq_data[seq_id].output_token_ids
                 prompt_tokens_ids = seq_group.seq_data[seq_id].prompt_token_ids
 
-                for logits_processor in logits_processors:
-                    parameters = inspect.signature(logits_processor).parameters
-                    if len(parameters) == 3:
-                        logits_row = logits_processor(prompt_tokens_ids,
-                                                      past_tokens_ids,
-                                                      logits_row)
-                    else:
-                        logits_row = logits_processor(past_tokens_ids,
-                                                      logits_row)
-
-                logits[logits_row_idx] = logits_row
+                if _logits_processor_threadpool is not None:
+                    logits_row_ids_and_logits_row_futures.append(
+                        (logits_row_idx,
+                         _logits_processor_threadpool.submit(
+                             _apply_logits_processors_single_seq, logits_row,
+                             logits_processors, past_tokens_ids,
+                             prompt_tokens_ids)))
+                else:
+                    logits[logits_row_idx] = \
+                        _apply_logits_processors_single_seq(
+                            logits_row, logits_processors, past_tokens_ids,
+                            prompt_tokens_ids)
 
         logits_processed += len(seq_group.sample_indices) + len(
             seq_group.prompt_logprob_indices)
 
+    for logits_row_idx, future in logits_row_ids_and_logits_row_futures:
+        logits[logits_row_idx] = future.result()
+
     if found_logits_processors:
         # verifies that no rows in logits were missed unexpectedly
         assert logits_processed == logits.shape[0]
     return logits
+
+
+def _apply_logits_processors_single_seq(logits_row, logits_processors,
+                                        past_tokens_ids,
+                                        prompt_tokens_ids) -> torch.Tensor:
+    for logits_processor in logits_processors:
+        parameters = inspect.signature(logits_processor).parameters
+        if len(parameters) == 3:
+            logits_row = logits_processor(prompt_tokens_ids, past_tokens_ids,
+                                          logits_row)
+        else:
+            logits_row = logits_processor(past_tokens_ids, logits_row)
+    return logits_row