[BUG] npm install without a lock file is super slow

Is there an existing issue for this?

• I have searched the existing issues

Current Behavior

npm install using the package.json in
https://gist.githubusercontent.com/Artur-/7b27836372efbee1e3c803af09fa9c6f/raw/714405d5a202b01cbf985d0774cdd26dfc98a562/package.json
takes around 5 minutes on my quite modern Mac

Most time is spent on "idealTree:tmp: sill idealTree buildDeps"

This is when you do not have a lock file but the npm cache is prepopulated with everything needed.

With a lock file, installation takes around 20s

Expected Behavior

Installation time should be dominated by the time it takes to copy dependencies from the cache to the project and running possible postinstall scripts.

For reference, using npm 6

npx npm@6 install

takes around 1 minute without a lock file and 35s with a lock file

Steps To Reproduce

mkdir empty-folder
cd empty-folder
curl https://gist.githubusercontent.com/Artur-/7b27836372efbee1e3c803af09fa9c6f/raw/714405d5a202b01cbf985d0774cdd26dfc98a562/package.json  > package.json
time npm install

Environment

• OS: macOS Big Sur 11.5.2
• Node: v16.0.0
• npm: 7.19.1

Reproduce the issue in an empty folder with the linked package.json and the provided npm install command, then compare it with npm 6 and the lock-file case. Start by investigating the reported "idealTree:tmp: sill idealTree buildDeps" phase. Done means addressing the slowdown while preserving dependency installation and postinstall behavior.