Abstract: A method and apparatus for improving multi-processor performance where the various processors are competing for spinlock acquisition is described. If a spinlock testing processor fails to acquire the spinlock, it re-tries for access after a small wait interval has passed. If the spinlock is still locked, the testing processor retries with an additional increase in the wait interval. Subsequent re-tries progressively increases the wait interval until a maximum wait interval is reached. At this point, the wait interval is reset back to an initial small wait interval and the procedure is repeated until the processor gains access to the spinlock.