diff --git a/gnomad/sample_qc/pipeline.py b/gnomad/sample_qc/pipeline.py
index 31bc0992e..e23d41ff5 100644
--- a/gnomad/sample_qc/pipeline.py
+++ b/gnomad/sample_qc/pipeline.py
@@ -121,6 +121,7 @@ def get_qc_mt(
     filter_segdup: bool = True,
     filter_exome_low_coverage_regions: bool = False,
     high_conf_regions: Optional[List[str]] = None,
+    checkpoint_path: Optional[str] = None,
 ) -> hl.MatrixTable:
     """
     Create a QC-ready MT.
@@ -147,6 +148,7 @@ def get_qc_mt(
     :param filter_segdup: Filter segmental duplication regions
     :param filter_exome_low_coverage_regions: If set, only high coverage exome regions (computed from gnomAD are kept)
     :param high_conf_regions: If given, the data will be filtered to only include variants in those regions
+    :param checkpoint_path: If given, the QC MT will be checkpointed to the specified path before running LD pruning. If not specified, persist will be used instead.
     :return: Filtered MT
     """
     logger.info("Creating QC MatrixTable")
@@ -179,7 +181,12 @@ def get_qc_mt(
     )
 
     if ld_r2 is not None:
-        qc_mt = qc_mt.persist()
+        if checkpoint_path:
+            logger.info("Checkpointing the MT and LD pruning")
+            qc_mt = qc_mt.checkpoint(checkpoint_path, overwrite=True)
+        else:
+            logger.info("Persisting the MT and LD pruning")
+            qc_mt = qc_mt.persist()
         unfiltered_qc_mt = qc_mt.unfilter_entries()
         pruned_ht = hl.ld_prune(unfiltered_qc_mt.GT, r2=ld_r2)
         qc_mt = qc_mt.filter_rows(hl.is_defined(pruned_ht[qc_mt.row_key]))