diff --git a/builder/vmware/iso/step_create_vmx.go b/builder/vmware/iso/step_create_vmx.go
index 5a46c14ef..d812aab49 100644
--- a/builder/vmware/iso/step_create_vmx.go
+++ b/builder/vmware/iso/step_create_vmx.go
@@ -429,12 +429,19 @@ func (s *stepCreateVMX) Run(_ context.Context, state multistep.StateBag) multist
 		s.tempDir = vmxDir
 	}
 
-	/// Now to handle options that will modify the template
+	/// Now to handle options that will modify the template without using "vmxTemplateData"
 	vmxData := vmwcommon.ParseVMX(vmxContents)
+
+	// If no cpus were specified, then remove the entry to use the default
 	if vmxData["numvcpus"] == "" {
 		delete(vmxData, "numvcpus")
 	}
 
+	// If some number of cores were specified, then update "cpuid.coresPerSocket" with the requested value
+	if config.HWConfig.CoreCount > 0 {
+		vmxData["cpuid.corespersocket"] = strconv.Itoa(config.HWConfig.CoreCount)
+	}
+
 	/// Write the vmxData to the vmxPath
 	vmxPath := filepath.Join(vmxDir, config.VMName+".vmx")
 	if err := vmwcommon.WriteVMX(vmxPath, vmxData); err != nil {