diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/blob/line_highlighter.js b/app/assets/javascripts/blob/line_highlighter.js
index a1f59aa1b549782253df53796425769d28590d3b..a8932f8c73b7539d8eb4af4211719db5f524ae14 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/blob/line_highlighter.js
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/blob/line_highlighter.js
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ const LineHighlighter = function (options = {}) {
   options.fileHolderSelector = options.fileHolderSelector || '.file-holder';
   options.scrollFileHolder = options.scrollFileHolder || false;
   options.hash = options.hash || window.location.hash;
+  options.scrollBehavior = options.scrollBehavior || 'smooth';
 
   this.options = options;
   this._hash = options.hash;
@@ -74,6 +75,7 @@ LineHighlighter.prototype.highlightHash = function (newHash) {
         // Scroll to the first highlighted line on initial load
         // Add an offset of -100 for some context
         offset: -100,
+        behavior: this.options.scrollBehavior,
       });
     }
   }
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/vue_shared/components/line_numbers.vue b/app/assets/javascripts/vue_shared/components/line_numbers.vue
deleted file mode 100644
index 11caf3be00ad3491941e0f21e1a4939b8643c850..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/vue_shared/components/line_numbers.vue
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,31 +0,0 @@
-<script>
-import { GlIcon, GlLink } from '@gitlab/ui';
-
-export default {
-  components: {
-    GlIcon,
-    GlLink,
-  },
-  props: {
-    lines: {
-      type: Number,
-      required: true,
-    },
-  },
-};
-</script>
-<template>
-  <div class="line-numbers">
-    <gl-link
-      v-for="line in lines"
-      :id="`L${line}`"
-      :key="line"
-      class="diff-line-num gl-shadow-none!"
-      :to="`#LC${line}`"
-      :data-line-number="line"
-    >
-      <gl-icon :size="12" name="link" />
-      {{ line }}
-    </gl-link>
-  </div>
-</template>
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/vue_shared/components/source_viewer/components/chunk.vue b/app/assets/javascripts/vue_shared/components/source_viewer/components/chunk.vue
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..db0ee0cf00eba4d08e53953ede091b0cbd1216fa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/vue_shared/components/source_viewer/components/chunk.vue
@@ -0,0 +1,103 @@
+<script>
+import { GlIntersectionObserver, GlSafeHtmlDirective } from '@gitlab/ui';
+import ChunkLine from './chunk_line.vue';
+
+/*
+ * We only highlight the chunk that is currently visible to the user.
+ * By making use of the Intersection Observer API we can determine when a chunk becomes visible and highlight it accordingly.
+ *
+ * Content that is not visible to the user (i.e. not highlighted) do not need to look nice,
+ * so by making text transparent and rendering raw (non-highlighted) text,
+ * the browser spends less resources on painting content that is not immediately relevant.
+ *
+ * Why use transparent text as opposed to hiding content entirely?
+ * 1. If content is hidden entirely, native find text (⌘ + F) won't work.
+ * 2. When URL contains line numbers, the browser needs to be able to jump to the correct line.
+ */
+export default {
+  components: {
+    ChunkLine,
+    GlIntersectionObserver,
+  },
+  directives: {
+    SafeHtml: GlSafeHtmlDirective,
+  },
+  props: {
+    chunkIndex: {
+      type: Number,
+      required: false,
+      default: 0,
+    },
+    isHighlighted: {
+      type: Boolean,
+      required: true,
+    },
+    content: {
+      type: String,
+      required: true,
+    },
+    startingFrom: {
+      type: Number,
+      required: false,
+      default: 0,
+    },
+    totalLines: {
+      type: Number,
+      required: false,
+      default: 0,
+    },
+    language: {
+      type: String,
+      required: false,
+      default: null,
+    },
+  },
+  computed: {
+    lines() {
+      return this.content.split('\n');
+    },
+  },
+  methods: {
+    handleChunkAppear() {
+      if (!this.isHighlighted) {
+        this.$emit('appear', this.chunkIndex);
+      }
+    },
+  },
+};
+</script>
+<template>
+  <div>
+    <gl-intersection-observer @appear="handleChunkAppear">
+      <div v-if="isHighlighted">
+        <chunk-line
+          v-for="(line, index) in lines"
+          :key="index"
+          :number="startingFrom + index + 1"
+          :content="line"
+          :language="language"
+        />
+      </div>
+      <div v-else class="gl-display-flex">
+        <div class="gl-display-flex gl-flex-direction-column">
+          <a
+            v-for="(n, index) in totalLines"
+            :id="`L${startingFrom + index + 1}`"
+            :key="index"
+            class="gl-ml-5 gl-text-transparent"
+            :href="`#L${startingFrom + index + 1}`"
+            :data-line-number="startingFrom + index + 1"
+            data-testid="line-number"
+          >
+            {{ startingFrom + index + 1 }}
+          </a>
+        </div>
+        <div
+          v-safe-html="content"
+          class="gl-white-space-pre-wrap! gl-text-transparent"
+          data-testid="content"
+        ></div>
+      </div>
+    </gl-intersection-observer>
+  </div>
+</template>
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/vue_shared/components/source_viewer/components/chunk_line.vue b/app/assets/javascripts/vue_shared/components/source_viewer/components/chunk_line.vue
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..ab989ae6f9eb835aa536183d5cd2b3c6c0d57e44
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/vue_shared/components/source_viewer/components/chunk_line.vue
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+<script>
+import { GlLink, GlSafeHtmlDirective } from '@gitlab/ui';
+
+export default {
+  components: {
+    GlLink,
+  },
+  directives: {
+    SafeHtml: GlSafeHtmlDirective,
+  },
+  props: {
+    number: {
+      type: Number,
+      required: true,
+    },
+    content: {
+      type: String,
+      required: true,
+    },
+    language: {
+      type: String,
+      required: true,
+    },
+  },
+};
+</script>
+<template>
+  <div class="gl-display-flex">
+    <div class="line-numbers gl-pt-0! gl-pb-0! gl-absolute gl-z-index-3">
+      <gl-link
+        :id="`L${number}`"
+        class="file-line-num diff-line-num gl-user-select-none"
+        :to="`#L${number}`"
+        :data-line-number="number"
+      >
+        {{ number }}
+      </gl-link>
+    </div>
+
+    <pre
+      class="code highlight gl-p-0! gl-w-full gl-overflow-visible! gl-ml-11!"
+    ><code><span :id="`LC${number}`" v-safe-html="content" :lang="language" class="line" data-testid="content"></span></code></pre>
+  </div>
+</template>
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/vue_shared/components/source_viewer/constants.js b/app/assets/javascripts/vue_shared/components/source_viewer/constants.js
index 9efe0147c37f5c4bfe9cfdece3c6963328c90615..b5ce214e5774b54a5800834f6415a42dba763a1f 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/vue_shared/components/source_viewer/constants.js
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/vue_shared/components/source_viewer/constants.js
@@ -109,3 +109,5 @@ export const ROUGE_TO_HLJS_LANGUAGE_MAP = {
   xquery: 'xquery',
   yaml: 'yaml',
 };
+
+export const LINES_PER_CHUNK = 70;
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/vue_shared/components/source_viewer/source_viewer.vue b/app/assets/javascripts/vue_shared/components/source_viewer/source_viewer.vue
index 4a78cbacec0e67a4b7f7a8a870bbd4b5350f2aa3..15411e8d17e00250d3396657f0126bdad375db10 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/vue_shared/components/source_viewer/source_viewer.vue
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/vue_shared/components/source_viewer/source_viewer.vue
@@ -1,16 +1,21 @@
 <script>
 import { GlSafeHtmlDirective, GlLoadingIcon } from '@gitlab/ui';
-import LineNumbers from '~/vue_shared/components/line_numbers.vue';
-import { sanitize } from '~/lib/dompurify';
-import { ROUGE_TO_HLJS_LANGUAGE_MAP } from './constants';
-import { wrapLines } from './utils';
-
-const LINE_SELECT_CLASS_NAME = 'hll';
+import LineHighlighter from '~/blob/line_highlighter';
+import { ROUGE_TO_HLJS_LANGUAGE_MAP, LINES_PER_CHUNK } from './constants';
+import Chunk from './components/chunk.vue';
 
+/*
+ * This component is optimized to handle source code with many lines of code by splitting source code into chunks of 70 lines of code,
+ * we highlight and display the 1st chunk (L1-70) to the user as quickly as possible.
+ *
+ * The rest of the lines (L71+) is rendered once the browser goes into an idle state (requestIdleCallback).
+ * Each chunk is self-contained, this ensures when for example the width of a container on line 1000 changes,
+ * it does not trigger a repaint on a parent element that wraps all 1000 lines.
+ */
 export default {
   components: {
-    LineNumbers,
     GlLoadingIcon,
+    Chunk,
   },
   directives: {
     SafeHtml: GlSafeHtmlDirective,
@@ -27,46 +32,92 @@ export default {
       content: this.blob.rawTextBlob,
       language: ROUGE_TO_HLJS_LANGUAGE_MAP[this.blob.language],
       hljs: null,
+      firstChunk: null,
+      chunks: {},
+      isLoading: true,
+      isLineSelected: false,
+      lineHighlighter: null,
     };
   },
   computed: {
+    splitContent() {
+      return this.content.split('\n');
+    },
     lineNumbers() {
-      return this.content.split('\n').length;
+      return this.splitContent.length;
     },
-    highlightedContent() {
-      let highlightedContent;
-      let { language } = this;
+  },
+  async created() {
+    this.generateFirstChunk();
+    this.hljs = await this.loadHighlightJS();
 
-      if (this.hljs) {
-        if (!language) {
-          const hljsHighlightAuto = this.hljs.highlightAuto(this.content);
+    if (this.language) {
+      this.languageDefinition = await this.loadLanguage();
+    }
 
-          highlightedContent = hljsHighlightAuto.value;
-          language = hljsHighlightAuto.language;
-        } else if (this.languageDefinition) {
-          highlightedContent = this.hljs.highlight(this.content, { language: this.language }).value;
-        }
+    // Highlight the first chunk as soon as highlight.js is available
+    this.highlightChunk(null, true);
+
+    window.requestIdleCallback(async () => {
+      // Generate the remaining chunks once the browser idles to ensure the browser resources are spent on the most important things first
+      this.generateRemainingChunks();
+      this.isLoading = false;
+      await this.$nextTick();
+      this.lineHighlighter = new LineHighlighter({ scrollBehavior: 'auto' });
+    });
+  },
+  methods: {
+    generateFirstChunk() {
+      const lines = this.splitContent.splice(0, LINES_PER_CHUNK);
+      this.firstChunk = this.createChunk(lines);
+    },
+    generateRemainingChunks() {
+      const result = {};
+      for (let i = 0; i < this.splitContent.length; i += LINES_PER_CHUNK) {
+        const chunkIndex = Math.floor(i / LINES_PER_CHUNK);
+        const lines = this.splitContent.slice(i, i + LINES_PER_CHUNK);
+        result[chunkIndex] = this.createChunk(lines, i + LINES_PER_CHUNK);
       }
 
-      return wrapLines(highlightedContent, language);
+      this.chunks = result;
     },
-  },
-  watch: {
-    highlightedContent() {
-      this.$nextTick(() => this.selectLine());
+    createChunk(lines, startingFrom = 0) {
+      return {
+        content: lines.join('\n'),
+        startingFrom,
+        totalLines: lines.length,
+        language: this.language,
+        isHighlighted: false,
+      };
     },
-    $route() {
+    highlightChunk(index, isFirstChunk) {
+      const chunk = isFirstChunk ? this.firstChunk : this.chunks[index];
+
+      if (chunk.isHighlighted) {
+        return;
+      }
+
+      const { highlightedContent, language } = this.highlight(chunk.content, this.language);
+
+      Object.assign(chunk, { language, content: highlightedContent, isHighlighted: true });
+
       this.selectLine();
     },
-  },
-  async mounted() {
-    this.hljs = await this.loadHighlightJS();
+    highlight(content, language) {
+      let detectedLanguage = language;
+      let highlightedContent;
+      if (this.hljs) {
+        if (!detectedLanguage) {
+          const hljsHighlightAuto = this.hljs.highlightAuto(content);
+          highlightedContent = hljsHighlightAuto.value;
+          detectedLanguage = hljsHighlightAuto.language;
+        } else if (this.languageDefinition) {
+          highlightedContent = this.hljs.highlight(content, { language: this.language }).value;
+        }
+      }
 
-    if (this.language) {
-      this.languageDefinition = await this.loadLanguage();
-    }
-  },
-  methods: {
+      return { highlightedContent, language: detectedLanguage };
+    },
     loadHighlightJS() {
       // If no language can be mapped to highlight.js we load all common languages else we load only the core (smallest footprint)
       return !this.language ? import('highlight.js/lib/common') : import('highlight.js/lib/core');
@@ -83,21 +134,14 @@ export default {
 
       return languageDefinition;
     },
-    selectLine() {
-      const hash = sanitize(this.$route.hash);
-      const lineToSelect = hash && this.$el.querySelector(hash);
-
-      if (!lineToSelect) {
+    async selectLine() {
+      if (this.isLineSelected || !this.lineHighlighter) {
         return;
       }
 
-      if (this.$options.currentlySelectedLine) {
-        this.$options.currentlySelectedLine.classList.remove(LINE_SELECT_CLASS_NAME);
-      }
-
-      lineToSelect.classList.add(LINE_SELECT_CLASS_NAME);
-      this.$options.currentlySelectedLine = lineToSelect;
-      lineToSelect.scrollIntoView({ behavior: 'smooth', block: 'center' });
+      this.isLineSelected = true;
+      await this.$nextTick();
+      this.lineHighlighter.highlightHash(this.$route.hash);
     },
   },
   userColorScheme: window.gon.user_color_scheme,
@@ -105,16 +149,35 @@ export default {
 };
 </script>
 <template>
-  <gl-loading-icon v-if="!highlightedContent" size="sm" class="gl-my-5" />
   <div
-    v-else
-    class="file-content code js-syntax-highlight blob-content gl-display-flex"
+    class="file-content code js-syntax-highlight blob-content gl-display-flex gl-flex-direction-column gl-overflow-auto"
     :class="$options.userColorScheme"
     data-type="simple"
     data-qa-selector="blob_viewer_file_content"
   >
-    <line-numbers :lines="lineNumbers" />
-    <pre class="code highlight gl-pb-0!"><code v-safe-html="highlightedContent"></code>
-    </pre>
+    <chunk
+      v-if="firstChunk"
+      :lines="firstChunk.lines"
+      :total-lines="firstChunk.totalLines"
+      :content="firstChunk.content"
+      :starting-from="firstChunk.startingFrom"
+      :is-highlighted="firstChunk.isHighlighted"
+      :language="firstChunk.language"
+    />
+
+    <gl-loading-icon v-if="isLoading" size="sm" class="gl-my-5" />
+    <chunk
+      v-for="(chunk, key, index) in chunks"
+      v-else
+      :key="key"
+      :lines="chunk.lines"
+      :content="chunk.content"
+      :total-lines="chunk.totalLines"
+      :starting-from="chunk.startingFrom"
+      :is-highlighted="chunk.isHighlighted"
+      :chunk-index="index"
+      :language="chunk.language"
+      @appear="highlightChunk"
+    />
   </div>
 </template>
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/vue_shared/components/source_viewer/utils.js b/app/assets/javascripts/vue_shared/components/source_viewer/utils.js
deleted file mode 100644
index d726a8a55ffdb637f95813daed97c9f7fc579ae5..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/vue_shared/components/source_viewer/utils.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,28 +0,0 @@
-export const wrapLines = (content, language) => {
-  const isValidLanguage = /^[a-z\d\-_]+$/.test(language); // To prevent the possibility of a vulnerability we only allow languages that contain alphanumeric characters ([a-z\d), dashes (-) or underscores (_).
-
-  return (
-    content &&
-    content
-      .split('\n')
-      .map((line, i) => {
-        let formattedLine;
-        const attributes = `id="LC${i + 1}" lang="${isValidLanguage ? language : ''}"`;
-
-        if (line.includes('<span class="hljs') && !line.includes('</span>')) {
-          /**
-           * In some cases highlight.js will wrap multiple lines in a span, in these cases we want to append the line number to the existing span
-           *
-           * example (before):  <span class="hljs-code">```bash
-           * example (after):   <span id="LC67" class="hljs-code">```bash
-           */
-          formattedLine = line.replace(/(?=class="hljs)/, `${attributes} `);
-        } else {
-          formattedLine = `<span ${attributes} class="line">${line}</span>`;
-        }
-
-        return formattedLine;
-      })
-      .join('\n')
-  );
-};
diff --git a/spec/features/projects/blobs/blob_line_permalink_updater_spec.rb b/spec/features/projects/blobs/blob_line_permalink_updater_spec.rb
index 11e2d24c36acc629ff4c265e4263af03901c7b0b..9b0edcd09d24f7310f301d0000e0423aa07e1162 100644
--- a/spec/features/projects/blobs/blob_line_permalink_updater_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/projects/blobs/blob_line_permalink_updater_spec.rb
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ def visit_blob(fragment = nil)
         find('#L3').click
         find("#L5").click
 
-        expect(find('.js-data-file-blob-permalink-url')['href']).to eq(get_absolute_url(project_blob_path(project, tree_join(sha, path), anchor: "LC5")))
+        expect(find('.js-data-file-blob-permalink-url')['href']).to eq(get_absolute_url(project_blob_path(project, tree_join(sha, path), anchor: "L5")))
       end
 
       it 'with initial fragment hash, changes fragment hash if line number clicked' do
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ def visit_blob(fragment = nil)
         find('#L3').click
         find("#L5").click
 
-        expect(find('.js-data-file-blob-permalink-url')['href']).to eq(get_absolute_url(project_blob_path(project, tree_join(sha, path), anchor: "LC5")))
+        expect(find('.js-data-file-blob-permalink-url')['href']).to eq(get_absolute_url(project_blob_path(project, tree_join(sha, path), anchor: "L5")))
       end
     end
 
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ def visit_blob(fragment = nil)
         find('#L3').click
         find("#L5").click
 
-        expect(find('.js-blob-blame-link')['href']).to eq(get_absolute_url(project_blame_path(project, tree_join('master', path), anchor: "LC5")))
+        expect(find('.js-blob-blame-link')['href']).to eq(get_absolute_url(project_blame_path(project, tree_join('master', path), anchor: "L5")))
       end
 
       it 'with initial fragment hash, changes fragment hash if line number clicked' do
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ def visit_blob(fragment = nil)
         find('#L3').click
         find("#L5").click
 
-        expect(find('.js-blob-blame-link')['href']).to eq(get_absolute_url(project_blame_path(project, tree_join('master', path), anchor: "LC5")))
+        expect(find('.js-blob-blame-link')['href']).to eq(get_absolute_url(project_blame_path(project, tree_join('master', path), anchor: "L5")))
       end
     end
   end
diff --git a/spec/frontend/vue_shared/components/line_numbers_spec.js b/spec/frontend/vue_shared/components/line_numbers_spec.js
deleted file mode 100644
index 38c2622686356e0828e420211cb8b048a048b471..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/spec/frontend/vue_shared/components/line_numbers_spec.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,37 +0,0 @@
-import { shallowMount } from '@vue/test-utils';
-import { GlIcon, GlLink } from '@gitlab/ui';
-import LineNumbers from '~/vue_shared/components/line_numbers.vue';
-
-describe('Line Numbers component', () => {
-  let wrapper;
-  const lines = 10;
-
-  const createComponent = () => {
-    wrapper = shallowMount(LineNumbers, { propsData: { lines } });
-  };
-
-  const findGlIcon = () => wrapper.findComponent(GlIcon);
-  const findLineNumbers = () => wrapper.findAllComponents(GlLink);
-  const findFirstLineNumber = () => findLineNumbers().at(0);
-
-  beforeEach(() => createComponent());
-
-  afterEach(() => wrapper.destroy());
-
-  describe('rendering', () => {
-    it('renders Line Numbers', () => {
-      expect(findLineNumbers().length).toBe(lines);
-      expect(findFirstLineNumber().attributes()).toMatchObject({
-        id: 'L1',
-        to: '#LC1',
-      });
-    });
-
-    it('renders a link icon', () => {
-      expect(findGlIcon().props()).toMatchObject({
-        size: 12,
-        name: 'link',
-      });
-    });
-  });
-});
diff --git a/spec/frontend/vue_shared/components/source_viewer/components/chunk_line_spec.js b/spec/frontend/vue_shared/components/source_viewer/components/chunk_line_spec.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..4aa0aea9605aa41a738828f8f95d41f3b3464a2d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/frontend/vue_shared/components/source_viewer/components/chunk_line_spec.js
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+import { GlLink } from '@gitlab/ui';
+import { shallowMountExtended } from 'helpers/vue_test_utils_helper';
+import ChunkLine from '~/vue_shared/components/source_viewer/components/chunk_line.vue';
+
+const DEFAULT_PROPS = {
+  number: 2,
+  content: '// Line content',
+  language: 'javascript',
+};
+
+describe('Chunk Line component', () => {
+  let wrapper;
+
+  const createComponent = (props = {}) => {
+    wrapper = shallowMountExtended(ChunkLine, { propsData: { ...DEFAULT_PROPS, ...props } });
+  };
+
+  const findLink = () => wrapper.findComponent(GlLink);
+  const findContent = () => wrapper.findByTestId('content');
+
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    createComponent();
+  });
+
+  afterEach(() => wrapper.destroy());
+
+  describe('rendering', () => {
+    it('renders a line number', () => {
+      expect(findLink().attributes()).toMatchObject({
+        'data-line-number': `${DEFAULT_PROPS.number}`,
+        to: `#L${DEFAULT_PROPS.number}`,
+        id: `L${DEFAULT_PROPS.number}`,
+      });
+
+      expect(findLink().text()).toBe(DEFAULT_PROPS.number.toString());
+    });
+
+    it('renders content', () => {
+      expect(findContent().attributes()).toMatchObject({
+        id: `LC${DEFAULT_PROPS.number}`,
+        lang: DEFAULT_PROPS.language,
+      });
+
+      expect(findContent().text()).toBe(DEFAULT_PROPS.content);
+    });
+  });
+});
diff --git a/spec/frontend/vue_shared/components/source_viewer/components/chunk_spec.js b/spec/frontend/vue_shared/components/source_viewer/components/chunk_spec.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..42c4f2eacb838fa2d01d65349cd8d9042a6ebd35
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/frontend/vue_shared/components/source_viewer/components/chunk_spec.js
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+import { GlIntersectionObserver } from '@gitlab/ui';
+import { shallowMountExtended } from 'helpers/vue_test_utils_helper';
+import Chunk from '~/vue_shared/components/source_viewer/components/chunk.vue';
+import ChunkLine from '~/vue_shared/components/source_viewer/components/chunk_line.vue';
+
+const DEFAULT_PROPS = {
+  chunkIndex: 2,
+  isHighlighted: false,
+  content: '// Line 1 content \n // Line 2 content',
+  startingFrom: 140,
+  totalLines: 50,
+  language: 'javascript',
+};
+
+describe('Chunk component', () => {
+  let wrapper;
+
+  const createComponent = (props = {}) => {
+    wrapper = shallowMountExtended(Chunk, { propsData: { ...DEFAULT_PROPS, ...props } });
+  };
+
+  const findIntersectionObserver = () => wrapper.findComponent(GlIntersectionObserver);
+  const findChunkLines = () => wrapper.findAllComponents(ChunkLine);
+  const findLineNumbers = () => wrapper.findAllByTestId('line-number');
+  const findContent = () => wrapper.findByTestId('content');
+
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    createComponent();
+  });
+
+  afterEach(() => wrapper.destroy());
+
+  describe('Intersection observer', () => {
+    it('renders an Intersection observer component', () => {
+      expect(findIntersectionObserver().exists()).toBe(true);
+    });
+
+    it('emits an appear event when intersection-observer appears', () => {
+      findIntersectionObserver().vm.$emit('appear');
+
+      expect(wrapper.emitted('appear')).toEqual([[DEFAULT_PROPS.chunkIndex]]);
+    });
+
+    it('does not emit an appear event is isHighlighted is true', () => {
+      createComponent({ isHighlighted: true });
+      findIntersectionObserver().vm.$emit('appear');
+
+      expect(wrapper.emitted('appear')).toEqual(undefined);
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe('rendering', () => {
+    it('does not render a Chunk Line component if isHighlighted is false', () => {
+      expect(findChunkLines().length).toBe(0);
+    });
+
+    it('renders simplified line numbers and content if isHighlighted is false', () => {
+      expect(findLineNumbers().length).toBe(DEFAULT_PROPS.totalLines);
+
+      expect(findLineNumbers().at(0).attributes()).toMatchObject({
+        'data-line-number': `${DEFAULT_PROPS.startingFrom + 1}`,
+        href: `#L${DEFAULT_PROPS.startingFrom + 1}`,
+        id: `L${DEFAULT_PROPS.startingFrom + 1}`,
+      });
+
+      expect(findContent().text()).toBe(DEFAULT_PROPS.content);
+    });
+
+    it('renders Chunk Line components if isHighlighted is true', () => {
+      const splitContent = DEFAULT_PROPS.content.split('\n');
+      createComponent({ isHighlighted: true });
+
+      expect(findChunkLines().length).toBe(splitContent.length);
+
+      expect(findChunkLines().at(0).props()).toMatchObject({
+        number: DEFAULT_PROPS.startingFrom + 1,
+        content: splitContent[0],
+        language: DEFAULT_PROPS.language,
+      });
+    });
+  });
+});
diff --git a/spec/frontend/vue_shared/components/source_viewer/source_viewer_spec.js b/spec/frontend/vue_shared/components/source_viewer/source_viewer_spec.js
index ab579945e22649f23a96997595b6ebc855a93eb3..5b787993492a9d1f5ca78e2a2bddb61382cf580c 100644
--- a/spec/frontend/vue_shared/components/source_viewer/source_viewer_spec.js
+++ b/spec/frontend/vue_shared/components/source_viewer/source_viewer_spec.js
@@ -1,23 +1,35 @@
 import hljs from 'highlight.js/lib/core';
-import { GlLoadingIcon } from '@gitlab/ui';
-import Vue, { nextTick } from 'vue';
+import Vue from 'vue';
 import VueRouter from 'vue-router';
 import { shallowMountExtended } from 'helpers/vue_test_utils_helper';
 import SourceViewer from '~/vue_shared/components/source_viewer/source_viewer.vue';
+import Chunk from '~/vue_shared/components/source_viewer/components/chunk.vue';
 import { ROUGE_TO_HLJS_LANGUAGE_MAP } from '~/vue_shared/components/source_viewer/constants';
-import LineNumbers from '~/vue_shared/components/line_numbers.vue';
 import waitForPromises from 'helpers/wait_for_promises';
-import * as sourceViewerUtils from '~/vue_shared/components/source_viewer/utils';
+import LineHighlighter from '~/blob/line_highlighter';
 
+jest.mock('~/blob/line_highlighter');
 jest.mock('highlight.js/lib/core');
 Vue.use(VueRouter);
 const router = new VueRouter();
 
+const generateContent = (content, totalLines = 1) => {
+  let generatedContent = '';
+  for (let i = 0; i < totalLines; i += 1) {
+    generatedContent += `Line: ${i + 1} = ${content}\n`;
+  }
+  return generatedContent;
+};
+
+const execImmediately = (callback) => callback();
+
 describe('Source Viewer component', () => {
   let wrapper;
   const language = 'docker';
   const mappedLanguage = ROUGE_TO_HLJS_LANGUAGE_MAP[language];
-  const content = `// Some source code`;
+  const chunk1 = generateContent('// Some source code 1', 70);
+  const chunk2 = generateContent('// Some source code 2', 70);
+  const content = chunk1 + chunk2;
   const DEFAULT_BLOB_DATA = { language, rawTextBlob: content };
   const highlightedContent = `<span data-testid='test-highlighted' id='LC1'>${content}</span><span id='LC2'></span>`;
 
@@ -29,15 +41,12 @@ describe('Source Viewer component', () => {
     await waitForPromises();
   };
 
-  const findLoadingIcon = () => wrapper.findComponent(GlLoadingIcon);
-  const findLineNumbers = () => wrapper.findComponent(LineNumbers);
-  const findHighlightedContent = () => wrapper.findByTestId('test-highlighted');
-  const findFirstLine = () => wrapper.find('#LC1');
+  const findChunks = () => wrapper.findAllComponents(Chunk);
 
   beforeEach(() => {
     hljs.highlight.mockImplementation(() => ({ value: highlightedContent }));
     hljs.highlightAuto.mockImplementation(() => ({ value: highlightedContent }));
-    jest.spyOn(sourceViewerUtils, 'wrapLines');
+    jest.spyOn(window, 'requestIdleCallback').mockImplementation(execImmediately);
 
     return createComponent();
   });
@@ -45,6 +54,8 @@ describe('Source Viewer component', () => {
   afterEach(() => wrapper.destroy());
 
   describe('highlight.js', () => {
+    beforeEach(() => createComponent({ language: mappedLanguage }));
+
     it('registers the language definition', async () => {
       const languageDefinition = await import(`highlight.js/lib/languages/${mappedLanguage}`);
 
@@ -54,72 +65,46 @@ describe('Source Viewer component', () => {
       );
     });
 
-    it('highlights the content', () => {
-      expect(hljs.highlight).toHaveBeenCalledWith(content, { language: mappedLanguage });
+    it('highlights the first chunk', () => {
+      expect(hljs.highlight).toHaveBeenCalledWith(chunk1.trim(), { language: mappedLanguage });
     });
 
     describe('auto-detects if a language cannot be loaded', () => {
       beforeEach(() => createComponent({ language: 'some_unknown_language' }));
 
       it('highlights the content with auto-detection', () => {
-        expect(hljs.highlightAuto).toHaveBeenCalledWith(content);
+        expect(hljs.highlightAuto).toHaveBeenCalledWith(chunk1.trim());
       });
     });
   });
 
   describe('rendering', () => {
-    it('renders a loading icon if no highlighted content is available yet', async () => {
-      hljs.highlight.mockImplementation(() => ({ value: null }));
-      await createComponent();
-
-      expect(findLoadingIcon().exists()).toBe(true);
-    });
+    it('renders the first chunk', async () => {
+      const firstChunk = findChunks().at(0);
 
-    it('calls the wrapLines helper method with highlightedContent and mappedLanguage', () => {
-      expect(sourceViewerUtils.wrapLines).toHaveBeenCalledWith(highlightedContent, mappedLanguage);
-    });
-
-    it('renders Line Numbers', () => {
-      expect(findLineNumbers().props('lines')).toBe(1);
-    });
+      expect(firstChunk.props('content')).toContain(chunk1);
 
-    it('renders the highlighted content', () => {
-      expect(findHighlightedContent().exists()).toBe(true);
-    });
-  });
-
-  describe('selecting a line', () => {
-    let firstLine;
-    let firstLineElement;
-
-    beforeEach(() => {
-      firstLine = findFirstLine();
-      firstLineElement = firstLine.element;
-
-      jest.spyOn(firstLineElement, 'scrollIntoView');
-      jest.spyOn(firstLineElement.classList, 'add');
-      jest.spyOn(firstLineElement.classList, 'remove');
+      expect(firstChunk.props()).toMatchObject({
+        totalLines: 70,
+        startingFrom: 0,
+      });
     });
 
-    it('adds the highlight (hll) class', async () => {
-      wrapper.vm.$router.push('#LC1');
-      await nextTick();
+    it('renders the second chunk', async () => {
+      const secondChunk = findChunks().at(1);
 
-      expect(firstLineElement.classList.add).toHaveBeenCalledWith('hll');
-    });
+      expect(secondChunk.props('content')).toContain(chunk2.trim());
 
-    it('removes the highlight (hll) class from a previously highlighted line', async () => {
-      wrapper.vm.$router.push('#LC2');
-      await nextTick();
-
-      expect(firstLineElement.classList.remove).toHaveBeenCalledWith('hll');
+      expect(secondChunk.props()).toMatchObject({
+        totalLines: 70,
+        startingFrom: 70,
+      });
     });
+  });
 
-    it('scrolls the line into view', () => {
-      expect(firstLineElement.scrollIntoView).toHaveBeenCalledWith({
-        behavior: 'smooth',
-        block: 'center',
-      });
+  describe('LineHighlighter', () => {
+    it('instantiates the lineHighlighter class', async () => {
+      expect(LineHighlighter).toHaveBeenCalledWith({ scrollBehavior: 'auto' });
     });
   });
 });
diff --git a/spec/frontend/vue_shared/components/source_viewer/utils_spec.js b/spec/frontend/vue_shared/components/source_viewer/utils_spec.js
deleted file mode 100644
index 0631e7efd5418cb4e34f4d92b3be5e1602e9ae1b..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/spec/frontend/vue_shared/components/source_viewer/utils_spec.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,26 +0,0 @@
-import { wrapLines } from '~/vue_shared/components/source_viewer/utils';
-
-describe('Wrap lines', () => {
-  it.each`
-    content                                            | language             | output
-    ${'line 1'}                                        | ${'javascript'}      | ${'<span id="LC1" lang="javascript" class="line">line 1</span>'}
-    ${'line 1\nline 2'}                                | ${'html'}            | ${`<span id="LC1" lang="html" class="line">line 1</span>\n<span id="LC2" lang="html" class="line">line 2</span>`}
-    ${'<span class="hljs-code">line 1\nline 2</span>'} | ${'html'}            | ${`<span id="LC1" lang="html" class="hljs-code">line 1\n<span id="LC2" lang="html" class="line">line 2</span></span>`}
-    ${'<span class="hljs-code">```bash'}               | ${'bash'}            | ${'<span id="LC1" lang="bash" class="hljs-code">```bash'}
-    ${'<span class="hljs-code">```bash'}               | ${'valid-language1'} | ${'<span id="LC1" lang="valid-language1" class="hljs-code">```bash'}
-    ${'<span class="hljs-code">```bash'}               | ${'valid_language2'} | ${'<span id="LC1" lang="valid_language2" class="hljs-code">```bash'}
-  `('returns lines wrapped in spans containing line numbers', ({ content, language, output }) => {
-    expect(wrapLines(content, language)).toBe(output);
-  });
-
-  it.each`
-    language
-    ${'invalidLanguage>'}
-    ${'"invalidLanguage"'}
-    ${'<invalidLanguage'}
-  `('returns lines safely without XSS language is not valid', ({ language }) => {
-    expect(wrapLines('<span class="hljs-code">```bash', language)).toBe(
-      '<span id="LC1" lang="" class="hljs-code">```bash',
-    );
-  });
-});