diff --git a/packages/@tailwindcss-cli/src/commands/build/index.ts b/packages/@tailwindcss-cli/src/commands/build/index.ts
index baf980892..c10ed728c 100644
--- a/packages/@tailwindcss-cli/src/commands/build/index.ts
+++ b/packages/@tailwindcss-cli/src/commands/build/index.ts
@@ -57,6 +57,8 @@ export function options() {
   } satisfies Arg
 }
 
+let cache: Map<string, unknown> = new Map()
+
 export async function handle(args: Result<ReturnType<typeof options>>) {
   let base = path.resolve(args['--cwd'])
 
@@ -96,7 +98,7 @@ export async function handle(args: Result<ReturnType<typeof options>>) {
   )
 
   // Compile the input
-  let result = optimizeCss(compile(input, candidates), {
+  let result = optimizeCss(compile(input, candidates, { cache }), {
     file: args['--input'] ?? 'input.css',
     minify: args['--minify'],
   })
diff --git a/packages/tailwindcss/src/compile.ts b/packages/tailwindcss/src/compile.ts
index b91c19aca..1d40a69a8 100644
--- a/packages/tailwindcss/src/compile.ts
+++ b/packages/tailwindcss/src/compile.ts
@@ -6,18 +6,27 @@ import { DefaultMap } from './utils/default-map'
 import { escape } from './utils/escape'
 import type { Variants } from './variants'
 
+type SortDetails = {
+  properties: number[]
+  variants: bigint
+  candidate: string
+}
+
+type CompileOptions = {
+  throwOnInvalidCandidate?: boolean
+  cache?: Map<string, [Candidate, AstNode, SortDetails]>
+}
+
 export function compileCandidates(
   rawCandidates: string[],
   designSystem: DesignSystem,
-  { throwOnInvalidCandidate = false } = {},
+  { throwOnInvalidCandidate = false, cache }: CompileOptions = {},
 ) {
   // Ensure the candidates are sorted alphabetically
   rawCandidates.sort()
 
-  let nodeSorting = new Map<
-    AstNode,
-    { properties: number[]; variants: bigint; candidate: string }
-  >()
+  let nodeSorting = new Map<AstNode, SortDetails>()
+
   let astNodes: AstNode[] = []
 
   // A lazy map implementation that will return the variant if it exists. If it
@@ -31,6 +40,14 @@ export function compileCandidates(
 
   // Parse candidates and variants
   for (let rawCandidate of rawCandidates) {
+    let existing = cache?.get(rawCandidate)
+    if (existing) {
+      candidates.set(existing[0], rawCandidate)
+      astNodes.push(existing[1])
+      nodeSorting.set(existing[1], existing[2])
+      continue
+    }
+
     let candidate = parseCandidate(rawCandidate, designSystem.utilities, parsedVariants)
     if (candidate === null) {
       if (throwOnInvalidCandidate) {
@@ -48,6 +65,9 @@ export function compileCandidates(
 
   // Create the AST
   next: for (let [candidate, rawCandidate] of candidates) {
+    let existing = cache?.get(rawCandidate)
+    if (existing) continue
+
     let nodes: AstNode[] = []
 
     // Handle arbitrary properties
@@ -124,6 +144,8 @@ export function compileCandidates(
       candidate: rawCandidate,
     })
     astNodes.push(node)
+
+    cache?.set(rawCandidate, [candidate, node, nodeSorting.get(node)!])
   }
 
   astNodes.sort((a, z) => {
diff --git a/packages/tailwindcss/src/index.ts b/packages/tailwindcss/src/index.ts
index e0e3750ab..2f6abdcb5 100644
--- a/packages/tailwindcss/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/tailwindcss/src/index.ts
@@ -6,7 +6,11 @@ import * as CSS from './css-parser'
 import { buildDesignSystem } from './design-system'
 import { Theme } from './theme'
 
-export function compile(css: string, rawCandidates: string[]) {
+export function compile(
+  css: string,
+  rawCandidates: string[],
+  cache: Map<string, unknown> = new Map(),
+) {
   let ast = CSS.parse(css)
 
   if (process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'test') {
@@ -90,7 +94,7 @@ export function compile(css: string, rawCandidates: string[]) {
   // class CSS.
   walk(ast, (node, { replaceWith }) => {
     if (node.kind === 'rule' && node.selector === '@tailwind utilities') {
-      replaceWith(compileCandidates(rawCandidates, designSystem).astNodes)
+      replaceWith(compileCandidates(rawCandidates, designSystem, { cache: cache as any }).astNodes)
       // Stop walking after finding `@tailwind utilities` to avoid walking all
       // of the generated CSS. This means `@tailwind utilities` can only appear
       // once per file but that's the intended usage at this point in time.
@@ -110,6 +114,7 @@ export function compile(css: string, rawCandidates: string[]) {
         {
           // Parse the candidates to an AST that we can replace the `@apply` rule with.
           let candidateAst = compileCandidates(candidates, designSystem, {
+            cache: cache as any,
             throwOnInvalidCandidate: true,
           }).astNodes