diff --git a/litellm/proxy/proxy_server.py b/litellm/proxy/proxy_server.py
index 4cd573c9b..010bb6cde 100644
--- a/litellm/proxy/proxy_server.py
+++ b/litellm/proxy/proxy_server.py
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ try:
     import backoff
     import yaml
     import rq
+    import orjson
 except ImportError:
     import sys
 
@@ -32,6 +33,7 @@ except ImportError:
             "backoff",
             "pyyaml", 
             "rq"
+            "orjson"
         ]
     )
     import uvicorn
@@ -39,6 +41,7 @@ except ImportError:
     import appdirs
     import backoff
     import yaml
+    import orjson
 
     warnings.warn(
         "Installed runtime dependencies for proxy server. Specify these dependencies explicitly with `pip install litellm[proxy]`"
@@ -780,8 +783,11 @@ async def chat_completion(request: Request, model: Optional[str] = None, user_ap
 @router.post("/embeddings", dependencies=[Depends(user_api_key_auth)])
 async def embeddings(request: Request, user_api_key_dict: dict = Depends(user_api_key_auth)): 
     try: 
-        data = await request.json()
-        print_verbose(f"data: {data}")
+
+        # Use orjson to parse JSON data, orjson speeds up requests significantly
+        data_bytes = await request.body()
+        data = orjson.loads(data_bytes.decode('utf-8'))
+
         data["model"] = (
             general_settings.get("embedding_model", None) # server default
             or user_model # model name passed via cli args
diff --git a/litellm/proxy/tests/load_test_embedding_100.py b/litellm/proxy/tests/load_test_embedding_100.py
index 9fa7b8d12..d7d272405 100644
--- a/litellm/proxy/tests/load_test_embedding_100.py
+++ b/litellm/proxy/tests/load_test_embedding_100.py
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ async def litellm_completion():
 
 async def main():
     start = time.time()
-    n = 10  # Number of concurrent tasks
+    n = 100  # Number of concurrent tasks
     tasks = [litellm_completion() for _ in range(n)]
 
     chat_completions = await asyncio.gather(*tasks)
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index c405e1c49..782c332ca 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -29,7 +29,8 @@ proxy = [
     "uvicorn",
     "fastapi",
     "backoff",
-    "rq"
+    "rq",
+    "orjson",
 ]
 
 [tool.poetry.scripts]