diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci-software-factory.yaml b/.github/workflows/ci-software-factory.yaml
index cbc13e7c99e..55b1b9c6dba 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci-software-factory.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci-software-factory.yaml
@@ -80,10 +80,21 @@ jobs:
           shopt -s dotglob
           cp -a .test-web-assets-artifact/. ./
       - name: Install Playwright Browsers
-        # --with-deps also apt-installs the system libraries Playwright needs;
-        # without it CI fails with "Host system is missing dependencies to run
-        # browsers".
-        run: pnpm exec playwright install --with-deps
+        # `--with-deps` bundles two unrelated operations: fetching the browsers
+        # from Microsoft's CDN, and apt-installing the system libraries they
+        # link against. Only the second reaches Ubuntu's mirrors, and that is
+        # where this step stalls — it has sat here for as long as 170 minutes,
+        # holding a runner, while the browser download itself has never been
+        # implicated. Splitting them bounds the half that fails without
+        # touching the half that works.
+        #
+        # A healthy install of both takes about a minute, so five is generous.
+        # The deps half is still required: without it Playwright reports "Host
+        # system is missing dependencies to run browsers".
+        timeout-minutes: 10
+        run: |
+          pnpm exec playwright install
+          timeout 5m pnpm exec playwright install-deps
         working-directory: packages/software-factory
       - name: Run Node tests
         if: ${{ matrix.shard.index == 1 }}