diff --git a/deploy/vmop-deployment.yaml b/deploy/vmop-deployment.yaml
index 648cc39..4a22d9e 100644
--- a/deploy/vmop-deployment.yaml
+++ b/deploy/vmop-deployment.yaml
@@ -36,7 +36,13 @@ spec:
           resources:
             requests:
               cpu: 100m
-              memory: 128Mi
+              # The VM operator needs about 25 MB of memory, plus 1 MB for
+              # each VM. The reason is that for the sake of effeciency, we
+              # have to keep a parsed representation of the CRD in memory,
+              # which requires about 512 KB per VM. While handling updates,
+              # we temporarily have the old and the new version of the CRD
+              # in memory, so we need another 512 KB per VM.  
+              memory: 256Mi
       volumes:
       - name: config
         configMap: