diff --git a/cmd/compute-domain-kubelet-plugin/driver.go b/cmd/compute-domain-kubelet-plugin/driver.go
index 72e5cbda6..d2a846ecd 100644
--- a/cmd/compute-domain-kubelet-plugin/driver.go
+++ b/cmd/compute-domain-kubelet-plugin/driver.go
@@ -157,7 +157,7 @@ func (d *driver) PrepareResourceClaims(ctx context.Context, claims []*resourceap
 
 	var wg sync.WaitGroup
 	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, ErrorRetryMaxTimeout)
-	workQueue := workqueue.New(workqueue.DefaultControllerRateLimiter())
+	workQueue := workqueue.New(workqueue.DefaultPrepUnprepRateLimiter())
 	results := make(map[types.UID]kubeletplugin.PrepareResult)
 
 	for _, claim := range claims {
@@ -188,7 +188,10 @@ func (d *driver) UnprepareResourceClaims(ctx context.Context, claimRefs []kubele
 
 	var wg sync.WaitGroup
 	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, ErrorRetryMaxTimeout)
-	workQueue := workqueue.New(workqueue.DefaultControllerRateLimiter())
+
+	// Review: do we want to have a new queue per incoming Prepare/Unprepare
+	// request?
+	workQueue := workqueue.New(workqueue.DefaultPrepUnprepRateLimiter())
 	results := make(map[types.UID]error)
 
 	for _, claim := range claimRefs {
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 85982ccb8..04a5359f7 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/spf13/pflag v1.0.10
 	github.com/stretchr/testify v1.11.1
 	github.com/urfave/cli/v2 v2.27.7
+	golang.org/x/time v0.9.0
 	google.golang.org/grpc v1.75.1
 	k8s.io/api v0.34.0
 	k8s.io/apimachinery v0.34.0
@@ -80,7 +81,6 @@ require (
 	golang.org/x/sys v0.36.0 // indirect
 	golang.org/x/term v0.34.0 // indirect
 	golang.org/x/text v0.28.0 // indirect
-	golang.org/x/time v0.9.0 // indirect
 	google.golang.org/genproto/googleapis/rpc v0.0.0-20250707201910-8d1bb00bc6a7 // indirect
 	google.golang.org/protobuf v1.36.8 // indirect
 	gopkg.in/evanphx/json-patch.v4 v4.12.0 // indirect
diff --git a/pkg/workqueue/workqueue.go b/pkg/workqueue/workqueue.go
index bee84f03b..3c9f25e98 100644
--- a/pkg/workqueue/workqueue.go
+++ b/pkg/workqueue/workqueue.go
@@ -20,7 +20,9 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
 	"sync"
+	"time"
 
+	"golang.org/x/time/rate"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime"
 	"k8s.io/client-go/util/workqueue"
 	"k8s.io/klog/v2"
@@ -38,6 +40,24 @@ type WorkItem struct {
 	Callback func(ctx context.Context, obj any) error
 }
 
+// Return composite rate limiter that combines both per-item exponential backoff
+// and an overall token bucket rate-limiting strategy. It calculates the
+// exponential backoff for the individual item (based on its personal retry
+// history), checks the global rate against the token bucket, and picks the
+// longest delay from either strategy, ensuring that both per-item and overall
+// queue health are respected.
+func DefaultPrepUnprepRateLimiter() workqueue.TypedRateLimiter[any] {
+	return workqueue.NewTypedMaxOfRateLimiter(
+		// This is a per-item exponential backoff limiter. Each time an item
+		// fails and is retried, the delay grows exponentially starting from the
+		// lower value up to the upper bound.
+		workqueue.NewTypedItemExponentialFailureRateLimiter[any](250*time.Millisecond, 3000*time.Second),
+		// Global (not per-item) rate limiter. Allows up to 5 retries per
+		// second, with bursts of up to 10.
+		&workqueue.TypedBucketRateLimiter[any]{Limiter: rate.NewLimiter(rate.Limit(5), 10)},
+	)
+}
+
 func DefaultControllerRateLimiter() workqueue.TypedRateLimiter[any] {
 	return workqueue.DefaultTypedControllerRateLimiter[any]()
 }