diff --git a/onnxruntime/core/providers/openvino/backend_manager.cc b/onnxruntime/core/providers/openvino/backend_manager.cc
index 989d1022f1d7b..b1cc42cc66ce8 100644
--- a/onnxruntime/core/providers/openvino/backend_manager.cc
+++ b/onnxruntime/core/providers/openvino/backend_manager.cc
@@ -673,8 +673,10 @@ BackendManager::GetModelProtoFromFusedNode(const onnxruntime::Node& fused_node,
                                 << src_init->name()
                                 << ", data_type: " << src_init->data_type()
                                 << ", raw_data size: " << src_init->raw_data().size();
-
-          SetExternalDataFields(proto_init, src_init->raw_data().data(), src_init->raw_data().size());
+          if (src_init->raw_data().size() > 0)
+              SetExternalDataFields(proto_init, src_init->raw_data().data(), src_init->raw_data().size());
+          else
+              LOGS(logger, VERBOSE) << "Initializer has empty raw_data: skipping initializer '" << src_init->name() << "'...";
         } else if (onnxruntime::utils::HasExternalDataInMemory(*src_init)) {
           auto it_ext = external_initializers_offset_and_length.find(name);
           if (it_ext == external_initializers_offset_and_length.end()) {