diff --git a/src/transformers/modeling_utils.py b/src/transformers/modeling_utils.py
index 199adf825b7..fe257b56944 100644
--- a/src/transformers/modeling_utils.py
+++ b/src/transformers/modeling_utils.py
@@ -507,13 +507,14 @@ def load_state_dict(
                 )
             state_dict = {}
             for k in f.keys():
-                k_dtype = f.get_slice(k).get_dtype()
-                if k_dtype in str_to_torch_dtype:
-                    dtype = str_to_torch_dtype[k_dtype]
-                else:
-                    raise ValueError(f"Cannot load safetensors of unknown dtype {k_dtype}")
                 if map_location == "meta":
-                    state_dict[k] = torch.empty(size=f.get_slice(k).get_shape(), dtype=dtype, device="meta")
+                    _slice = f.get_slice(k)
+                    k_dtype = _slice.get_dtype()
+                    if k_dtype in str_to_torch_dtype:
+                        dtype = str_to_torch_dtype[k_dtype]
+                    else:
+                        raise ValueError(f"Cannot load safetensors of unknown dtype {k_dtype}")
+                    state_dict[k] = torch.empty(size=_slice.get_shape(), dtype=dtype, device="meta")
                 else:
                     state_dict[k] = f.get_tensor(k)
             return state_dict