diff --git a/rag-service/main.py b/rag-service/main.py
index e508e6a..0ae9ca8 100644
--- a/rag-service/main.py
+++ b/rag-service/main.py
@@ -488,6 +488,12 @@ async def global_exception_handler(request: Request, exc: Exception):
 SEMANTIC_CHUNK_SOFT_MAX = int(os.getenv("SEMANTIC_CHUNK_SOFT_MAX", "1200"))
 SEMANTIC_CHUNK_MERGE_MIN = int(os.getenv("SEMANTIC_CHUNK_MERGE_MIN", "150"))
 SEMANTIC_CHUNK_MERGE_MAX = int(os.getenv("SEMANTIC_CHUNK_MERGE_MAX", "1400"))
+SEMANTIC_CHUNK_MAX_TINY_CHUNKS = int(
+    os.getenv("SEMANTIC_CHUNK_MAX_TINY_CHUNKS", "256")
+)
+SEMANTIC_CHUNK_MAX_MERGE_CANDIDATES = int(
+    os.getenv("SEMANTIC_CHUNK_MAX_MERGE_CANDIDATES", "384")
+)
 SEMANTIC_CHUNK_SIMILARITY_THRESHOLD = float(
     os.getenv("SEMANTIC_CHUNK_SIMILARITY_THRESHOLD", "0.75")
 )
@@ -2134,6 +2140,16 @@ def _split_pass2(
     if not tiny_indices:
         return list(raw_chunks)  # fast-path: nothing to merge
 
+    # Keep semantic merge work bounded for adversarial inputs that fragment a page
+    # into a large number of tiny chunks. Normal PDFs stay on the merge path.
+    if len(tiny_indices) > SEMANTIC_CHUNK_MAX_TINY_CHUNKS:
+        logger.warning(
+            "Semantic merge skipped tiny_chunks=%s limit=%s",
+            len(tiny_indices),
+            SEMANTIC_CHUNK_MAX_TINY_CHUNKS,
+        )
+        return list(raw_chunks)
+
     # Collect tiny chunks + their immediate neighbours for batch embedding
     neighbour_indices = set()
     for idx in tiny_indices:
@@ -2144,6 +2160,16 @@ def _split_pass2(
             neighbour_indices.add(idx + 1)
 
     sorted_indices = sorted(neighbour_indices)
+
+    if len(sorted_indices) > SEMANTIC_CHUNK_MAX_MERGE_CANDIDATES:
+        logger.warning(
+            "Semantic merge skipped candidates=%s tiny_chunks=%s limit=%s",
+            len(sorted_indices),
+            len(tiny_indices),
+            SEMANTIC_CHUNK_MAX_MERGE_CANDIDATES,
+        )
+        return list(raw_chunks)
+
     texts_to_embed = [raw_chunks[i] for i in sorted_indices]
 
     try:
diff --git a/rag-service/tests/test_semantic_merge_limits.py b/rag-service/tests/test_semantic_merge_limits.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..37a7a19
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rag-service/tests/test_semantic_merge_limits.py
@@ -0,0 +1,124 @@
+"""Regression tests for semantic merge resource limits."""
+
+import os
+import sys
+import types
+import unittest
+from unittest.mock import MagicMock, patch
+
+
+def _stub_heavy_deps():
+    for name in [
+        "torch",
+        "numpy",
+        "langchain_community",
+        "langchain_community.vectorstores",
+        "langchain_community.embeddings",
+        "transformers",
+        "rank_bm25",
+        "pdf_parse_worker",
+    ]:
+        if name not in sys.modules:
+            sys.modules[name] = types.ModuleType(name)
+
+    torch_stub = sys.modules["torch"]
+    torch_stub.no_grad = lambda: _NullCtx()
+    torch_stub.cuda = types.SimpleNamespace(is_available=lambda: False)
+
+    tf = sys.modules["transformers"]
+    for attr in [
+        "AutoConfig",
+        "AutoTokenizer",
+        "AutoModelForSeq2SeqLM",
+        "AutoModelForCausalLM",
+        "TextIteratorStreamer",
+    ]:
+        setattr(tf, attr, MagicMock())
+
+    sys.modules["rank_bm25"].BM25Okapi = MagicMock()
+    sys.modules["pdf_parse_worker"]._extract_pdf_text_worker = MagicMock()
+
+    lc_vs = sys.modules["langchain_community.vectorstores"]
+    lc_vs.FAISS = MagicMock()
+    lc_emb = sys.modules["langchain_community.embeddings"]
+    lc_emb.HuggingFaceEmbeddings = MagicMock()
+
+
+class _NullCtx:
+    def __enter__(self):
+        return self
+
+    def __exit__(self, *_):
+        return False
+
+
+os.environ.setdefault("JWT_SECRET", "test-secret-for-ci")
+os.environ.setdefault("INTERNAL_RAG_TOKEN", "test-secret")
+
+_stub_heavy_deps()
+
+sys.path.insert(0, os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), ".."))
+import main  # noqa: E402
+
+
+class _FakeEmbeddingModel:
+    def __init__(self, embeddings):
+        self.embeddings = embeddings
+        self.calls = []
+
+    def embed_documents(self, texts):
+        self.calls.append(list(texts))
+        return self.embeddings
+
+
+class TestSemanticMergeLimits(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_split_pass2_merges_normal_small_input(self):
+        fake_model = _FakeEmbeddingModel([[1.0, 0.0], [1.0, 0.0]])
+
+        with patch.object(main, "get_embedding_model", return_value=fake_model):
+            result = main._split_pass2(
+                ["alpha", "beta"],
+                threshold=0.5,
+                merge_min=32,
+                merge_max=128,
+            )
+
+        self.assertEqual(result, ["alpha beta"])
+        self.assertEqual(len(fake_model.calls), 1)
+
+    def test_split_pass2_skips_merge_when_tiny_chunk_limit_is_exceeded(self):
+        fake_model = _FakeEmbeddingModel([])
+        raw_chunks = [f"tiny-{idx}" for idx in range(5)]
+
+        with patch.object(main, "SEMANTIC_CHUNK_MAX_TINY_CHUNKS", 3), \
+             patch.object(main, "get_embedding_model", return_value=fake_model):
+            result = main._split_pass2(
+                raw_chunks,
+                threshold=0.5,
+                merge_min=64,
+                merge_max=256,
+            )
+
+        self.assertEqual(result, raw_chunks)
+        self.assertEqual(fake_model.calls, [])
+
+    def test_split_pass2_skips_merge_when_candidate_limit_is_exceeded(self):
+        fake_model = _FakeEmbeddingModel([])
+        raw_chunks = ["a", "long chunk", "b", "long chunk", "c"]
+
+        with patch.object(main, "SEMANTIC_CHUNK_MAX_TINY_CHUNKS", 10), \
+             patch.object(main, "SEMANTIC_CHUNK_MAX_MERGE_CANDIDATES", 4), \
+             patch.object(main, "get_embedding_model", return_value=fake_model):
+            result = main._split_pass2(
+                raw_chunks,
+                threshold=0.5,
+                merge_min=32,
+                merge_max=256,
+            )
+
+        self.assertEqual(result, raw_chunks)
+        self.assertEqual(fake_model.calls, [])
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    unittest.main()
\ No newline at end of file