diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index dda137f98b2..74f30b346b4 100755
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ common-dist/
 packages/cbioportal-frontend-commons/dist
 .sass-cache
 .rpt2_cache
+.webpack-cache/
 frontend-cbioportal.iml
 test/
 .classpath
diff --git a/tsconfig.json b/tsconfig.json
index ff9f396f387..d998082e089 100644
--- a/tsconfig.json
+++ b/tsconfig.json
@@ -21,7 +21,9 @@
         "typeRoots": [
             "node_modules/@types"
         ],
-        "lib":["es2015", "es2016.array.include", "dom"]
+        "lib":["es2015", "es2016.array.include", "dom"],
+        "incremental": true,
+        "tsBuildInfoFile": "./tsDist/.tsbuildinfo"
     },
     "exclude": ["./node_modules/*"],
     "include": [
diff --git a/webpack.config.js b/webpack.config.js
index 60e2697c3a2..2a0496d0b0e 100755
--- a/webpack.config.js
+++ b/webpack.config.js
@@ -102,10 +102,19 @@ var config = {
         publicPath: '/',
     },
 
+    // Enable webpack persistent caching for faster rebuilds
+    cache: {
+        type: 'filesystem',
+        cacheDirectory: path.resolve(__dirname, '.webpack-cache'),
+        buildDependencies: {
+            config: [__filename],
+        },
+    },
+
     optimization: {
         minimizer: [
             new TerserPlugin({
-                parallel: false,
+                parallel: true,
             }),
         ],
     },
@@ -212,8 +221,7 @@ var config = {
                     {
                         loader: 'ts-loader',
                         options: {
-                            transpileOnly:
-                                isDev || isTest || process.env.NETLIFY,
+                            transpileOnly: true,
                         },
                     },
                 ],
@@ -469,8 +477,6 @@ if (isDev || isTest) {
         'shared/Empty.tsx'
     );
 
-    config.plugins.push(new ForkTsCheckerWebpackPlugin());
-
     // css modules for any scss matching test
     config.module.rules.push({
         test: /\.module\.scss$/,
@@ -564,6 +570,9 @@ if (isDev || isTest) {
     });
 }
 
+// Add ForkTsCheckerWebpackPlugin for all builds since we use transpileOnly
+config.plugins.push(new ForkTsCheckerWebpackPlugin());
+
 // reduce logging to optimize netlify build
 if (process.env.BUILD_REPORT_ERRORS_ONLY === 'true') {
     config.stats = 'errors-only';