diff --git a/distributed/comm/asyncio_tcp.py b/distributed/comm/asyncio_tcp.py
index 8594508d75..a6eca647f8 100644
--- a/distributed/comm/asyncio_tcp.py
+++ b/distributed/comm/asyncio_tcp.py
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
 from .addressing import parse_host_port, unparse_host_port
 from .core import Comm, CommClosedError, Connector, Listener
 from .registry import Backend
-from .utils import ensure_concrete_host, from_frames, to_frames
+from .utils import ensure_concrete_host, from_frames, host_array, to_frames
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ def __init__(self, on_connection=None, min_read_size=128 * 1024):
         self._using_default_buffer = True
 
         self._default_len = max(min_read_size, 16)  # need at least 16 bytes of buffer
-        self._default_buffer = memoryview(bytearray(self._default_len))
+        self._default_buffer = host_array(self._default_len)
         # Index in default_buffer pointing to the first unparsed byte
         self._default_start = 0
         # Index in default_buffer pointing to the last written byte
@@ -258,7 +258,7 @@ def _parse_frame_lengths(self):
         self._default_start += 8 * n_read
 
         if n_read == needed:
-            self._frames = [memoryview(bytearray(n)) for n in self._frame_lengths]
+            self._frames = [host_array(n) for n in self._frame_lengths]
             self._frame_index = 0
             self._frame_nbytes_needed = (
                 self._frame_lengths[0] if self._frame_lengths else 0
diff --git a/distributed/comm/tcp.py b/distributed/comm/tcp.py
index 5d6c3d9f1f..f0435002b7 100644
--- a/distributed/comm/tcp.py
+++ b/distributed/comm/tcp.py
@@ -32,7 +32,13 @@
 from .addressing import parse_host_port, unparse_host_port
 from .core import Comm, CommClosedError, Connector, FatalCommClosedError, Listener
 from .registry import Backend
-from .utils import ensure_concrete_host, from_frames, get_tcp_server_address, to_frames
+from .utils import (
+    ensure_concrete_host,
+    from_frames,
+    get_tcp_server_address,
+    host_array,
+    to_frames,
+)
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -205,7 +211,7 @@ async def read(self, deserializers=None):
             frames_nbytes = await stream.read_bytes(fmt_size)
             (frames_nbytes,) = struct.unpack(fmt, frames_nbytes)
 
-            frames = memoryview(bytearray(frames_nbytes))
+            frames = host_array(frames_nbytes)
             # Workaround for OpenSSL 1.0.2 (can drop with OpenSSL 1.1.1)
             for i, j in sliding_window(
                 2, range(0, frames_nbytes + C_INT_MAX, C_INT_MAX)
diff --git a/distributed/comm/ucx.py b/distributed/comm/ucx.py
index 97d109b1df..5ce0da9c7a 100644
--- a/distributed/comm/ucx.py
+++ b/distributed/comm/ucx.py
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
 from .addressing import parse_host_port, unparse_host_port
 from .core import Comm, CommClosedError, Connector, Listener
 from .registry import Backend, backends
-from .utils import ensure_concrete_host, from_frames, to_frames
+from .utils import ensure_concrete_host, from_frames, host_array, to_frames
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -37,7 +37,6 @@
 else:
     ucp = None  # type: ignore
 
-host_array = None
 device_array = None
 pre_existing_cuda_context = False
 cuda_context_created = False
@@ -53,7 +52,8 @@ def synchronize_stream(stream=0):
 
 
 def init_once():
-    global ucp, host_array, device_array
+    global ucp, device_array
+    global ucx_create_endpoint, ucx_create_listener
     global pre_existing_cuda_context, cuda_context_created
 
     if ucp is not None:
@@ -110,14 +110,6 @@ def init_once():
 
     ucp.init(options=ucx_config, env_takes_precedence=True)
 
-    # Find the function, `host_array()`, to use when allocating new host arrays
-    try:
-        import numpy
-
-        host_array = lambda n: numpy.empty((n,), dtype="u1")
-    except ImportError:
-        host_array = lambda n: bytearray(n)
-
     # Find the function, `cuda_array()`, to use when allocating new CUDA arrays
     try:
         import rmm
diff --git a/distributed/comm/utils.py b/distributed/comm/utils.py
index bc29c3d763..c9873bc43d 100644
--- a/distributed/comm/utils.py
+++ b/distributed/comm/utils.py
@@ -18,6 +18,26 @@
     OFFLOAD_THRESHOLD = parse_bytes(OFFLOAD_THRESHOLD)
 
 
+# Find the function, `host_array()`, to use when allocating new host arrays
+try:
+    # Use NumPy, when available, to avoid memory initialization cost.
+    # A `bytearray` is zero-initialized using `calloc`, which we don't need.
+    # `np.empty` both skips the zero-initialization, and
+    # uses hugepages when available ( https://github.com/numpy/numpy/pull/14216 ).
+    import numpy
+
+    def numpy_host_array(n: int) -> memoryview:
+        return memoryview(numpy.empty((n,), dtype="u1"))  # type: ignore
+
+    host_array = numpy_host_array
+except ImportError:
+
+    def builtin_host_array(n: int) -> memoryview:
+        return memoryview(bytearray(n))
+
+    host_array = builtin_host_array
+
+
 async def to_frames(
     msg,
     allow_offload=True,