diff --git a/rust/lance-index/src/vector/kmeans.rs b/rust/lance-index/src/vector/kmeans.rs
index 6e590651313..48c61bcdbe4 100644
--- a/rust/lance-index/src/vector/kmeans.rs
+++ b/rust/lance-index/src/vector/kmeans.rs
@@ -758,6 +758,7 @@ impl KMeans {
             id: usize,
             indices: Vec<usize>,
             centroid: Vec<N>,
+            finalized: bool,
         }
 
         impl<N> Eq for Cluster<N> {}
@@ -770,8 +771,15 @@ impl KMeans {
 
         impl<N> Ord for Cluster<N> {
             fn cmp(&self, other: &Self) -> Ordering {
-                // Max heap: larger clusters first
-                self.indices.len().cmp(&other.indices.len())
+                // Non-finalized clusters should always have higher priority than finalized ones
+                match (self.finalized, other.finalized) {
+                    (false, true) => Ordering::Greater,
+                    (true, false) => Ordering::Less,
+                    _ => {
+                        // Max heap: larger clusters first
+                        self.indices.len().cmp(&other.indices.len())
+                    }
+                }
             }
         }
 
@@ -838,6 +846,7 @@ impl KMeans {
                     id: next_cluster_id,
                     indices: cluster_indices,
                     centroid,
+                    finalized: false,
                 });
                 next_cluster_id += 1;
             }
@@ -846,17 +855,22 @@ impl KMeans {
         // Iteratively split largest clusters until we have target_k clusters
         while heap.len() < target_k {
             // Get the largest cluster
-            let largest_cluster = heap.pop().ok_or(ArrowError::InvalidArgumentError(
+            let mut largest_cluster = heap.pop().ok_or(ArrowError::InvalidArgumentError(
                 "No cluster can be further split".to_string(),
             ))?;
 
-            // Skip if cluster has only 1 point
+            // If this cluster is already finalized, no further split is possible; stop splitting
+            if largest_cluster.finalized {
+                log::warn!("Cluster {} is already finalized, no further split is possible, finish with {} clusters", largest_cluster.id, heap.len()+ 1);
+                heap.push(largest_cluster);
+                break;
+            }
+
+            // Because the clusters are sorted by size, if the cluster has only 1 point, no further split is possible; stop splitting
             if largest_cluster.indices.len() <= 1 {
+                log::warn!("Cluster {} has only 1 point, no further split is possible, finish with {} clusters", largest_cluster.id, heap.len()+ 1);
                 heap.push(largest_cluster);
-                if heap.iter().all(|c| c.indices.len() <= 1) {
-                    break; // No more splits possible
-                }
-                continue;
+                break;
             }
 
             let cluster_size = largest_cluster.indices.len();
@@ -881,17 +895,17 @@ impl KMeans {
             };
 
             // Create sub-dataset for this cluster using indices
-            let cluster_fsl = Self::create_array_from_indices::<T>(
+            let sub_data = Self::create_array_from_indices::<T>(
                 &largest_cluster.indices,
                 data_values,
                 dimension,
             )?;
 
             // Run kmeans on this cluster
-            let sub_kmeans = Self::train_kmeans::<T, Algo>(&cluster_fsl, cluster_k, params)?;
+            let sub_kmeans = Self::train_kmeans::<T, Algo>(&sub_data, cluster_k, params)?;
 
             // Get membership for points in the sub-cluster
-            let sub_data = cluster_fsl.values().as_primitive::<T>().values();
+            let sub_data = sub_data.values().as_primitive::<T>().values();
             let (sub_membership, _, _) = Algo::compute_membership_and_loss(
                 sub_kmeans.centroids.as_primitive::<T>().values(),
                 sub_data,
@@ -902,31 +916,65 @@ impl KMeans {
                 None,
             );
 
-            // Create new sub-clusters and add to heap
-            let sub_centroids = sub_kmeans.centroids.as_primitive::<T>().values();
-            for i in 0..cluster_k {
-                let mut new_cluster_indices = Vec::new();
-                for (local_idx, &sub_cluster_id) in sub_membership.iter().enumerate() {
-                    if let Some(sid) = sub_cluster_id {
-                        if sid as usize == i {
-                            let global_idx = largest_cluster.indices[local_idx];
-                            new_cluster_indices.push(global_idx);
-                        }
+            // Build per-cluster membership while checking whether the split is effective
+            let approx_cluster_capacity = if cluster_k > 0 {
+                largest_cluster.indices.len().div_ceil(cluster_k)
+            } else {
+                0
+            };
+            let mut cluster_assignments: Vec<Vec<usize>> = (0..cluster_k)
+                .map(|_| Vec::with_capacity(approx_cluster_capacity))
+                .collect();
+
+            let mut first_sid: Option<u32> = None;
+            let mut all_same = true;
+            for (local_idx, &membership) in sub_membership.iter().enumerate() {
+                let Some(sub_cluster_id) = membership else {
+                    continue;
+                };
+
+                if let Some(first) = first_sid {
+                    if sub_cluster_id != first {
+                        all_same = false;
                     }
+                } else {
+                    first_sid = Some(sub_cluster_id);
+                }
+
+                let sub_cluster_id = sub_cluster_id as usize;
+                if let Some(indices) = cluster_assignments.get_mut(sub_cluster_id) {
+                    indices.push(largest_cluster.indices[local_idx]);
+                } else {
+                    // Unexpected assignment outside [0, cluster_k); treat as ineffective split.
+                    all_same = false;
                 }
+            }
 
-                if !new_cluster_indices.is_empty() {
-                    let centroid_start = i * dimension;
-                    let centroid_end = centroid_start + dimension;
-                    let centroid = sub_centroids[centroid_start..centroid_end].to_vec();
+            // If all memberships are identical, the split is ineffective; finalize the original cluster
+            if all_same {
+                largest_cluster.finalized = true;
+                heap.push(largest_cluster);
+                continue;
+            }
 
-                    heap.push(Cluster {
-                        id: next_cluster_id,
-                        indices: new_cluster_indices,
-                        centroid,
-                    });
-                    next_cluster_id += 1;
+            // Create new sub-clusters and add to heap
+            let sub_centroids = sub_kmeans.centroids.as_primitive::<T>().values();
+            for (i, new_cluster_indices) in cluster_assignments.into_iter().enumerate() {
+                if new_cluster_indices.is_empty() {
+                    continue;
                 }
+
+                let centroid_start = i * dimension;
+                let centroid_end = centroid_start + dimension;
+                let centroid = sub_centroids[centroid_start..centroid_end].to_vec();
+
+                heap.push(Cluster {
+                    id: next_cluster_id,
+                    indices: new_cluster_indices,
+                    centroid,
+                    finalized: false,
+                });
+                next_cluster_id += 1;
             }
 
             log::debug!(