diff --git a/interp/errors.go b/interp/errors.go
index 37a8e6d7d7..58486cd82d 100644
--- a/interp/errors.go
+++ b/interp/errors.go
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ var (
 	errMapAlreadyCreated      = errors.New("interp: map already created")
 	errLoopUnrolled           = errors.New("interp: loop unrolled")
 	errLoopTooLong            = errors.New("interp: loop ran too many iterations")
+	errTimeout                = errors.New("interp: timeout exceeded")
 )
 
 // This is one of the errors that can be returned from toLLVMValue when the
@@ -30,7 +31,8 @@ var errInvalidPtrToIntSize = errors.New("interp: ptrtoint integer size does not
 func isRecoverableError(err error) bool {
 	return err == errIntegerAsPointer || err == errUnsupportedInst ||
 		err == errUnsupportedRuntimeInst || err == errMapAlreadyCreated ||
-		err == errLoopUnrolled || err == errLoopTooLong || err == errInvalidPtrToIntSize
+		err == errLoopUnrolled || err == errLoopTooLong || err == errInvalidPtrToIntSize ||
+		err == errTimeout
 }
 
 // ErrorLine is one line in a traceback. The position may be missing.
diff --git a/interp/interp.go b/interp/interp.go
index fa590ce7f9..d2cc0fdaf9 100644
--- a/interp/interp.go
+++ b/interp/interp.go
@@ -121,6 +121,11 @@ func Run(mod llvm.Module, timeout time.Duration, maxLoopIterations int, debug bo
 		if r.debug {
 			fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, "call:", fn.Name())
 		}
+		// Give each package initializer its own timeout budget (errTimeout is
+		// recoverable): one heavy compile-time-uncomputable init — e.g. crypto
+		// AES/secp256k1 key expansion — reverts to a runtime call without
+		// starving the remaining packages of precomputation time.
+		r.start = time.Now()
 		_, mem, callErr := r.run(r.getFunction(fn), nil, nil, "    ")
 		call.EraseFromParentAsInstruction()
 		if callErr != nil {
diff --git a/interp/interpreter.go b/interp/interpreter.go
index 4c8c36fe75..f0813dfd77 100644
--- a/interp/interpreter.go
+++ b/interp/interpreter.go
@@ -167,7 +167,14 @@ func (r *runner) run(fn *function, params []value, parentMem *memoryView, indent
 			if time.Since(r.start) > r.timeout {
 				// Running for more than the allowed timeout; This shouldn't happen, but it does.
 				// See github.com/tinygo-org/tinygo/issues/2124
-				return nil, mem, r.errorAt(fn.blocks[0].instructions[0], fmt.Errorf("interp: running for more than %s, timing out (executed calls: %d)", r.timeout, r.callsExecuted))
+				// errTimeout is recoverable: rather than abort the whole build,
+				// the caller reverts this package initializer to a runtime call
+				// (so heavy compile-time-uncomputable init like crypto AES/secp256k1
+				// key expansion just runs at program startup, as on native Go).
+				if r.debug {
+					fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "interp: %s: timing out after %s (executed calls: %d); leaving as runtime init\n", r.pkgName, r.timeout, r.callsExecuted)
+				}
+				return nil, mem, r.errorAt(fn.blocks[0].instructions[0], errTimeout)
 			}
 
 			if len(operands) != 0 {