diff --git a/ggml/src/ggml-openvino/ggml-openvino.cpp b/ggml/src/ggml-openvino/ggml-openvino.cpp
index 0031cb7369..b3058b4af7 100644
--- a/ggml/src/ggml-openvino/ggml-openvino.cpp
+++ b/ggml/src/ggml-openvino/ggml-openvino.cpp
@@ -97,6 +97,8 @@ struct ggml_backend_openvino_buffer_context {
             ov_buffer = std::make_shared<ov::intel_gpu::ocl::USMTensor>(std::move(usm_tensor));
         } else {
             data = ggml_aligned_malloc(size);
+            GGML_ASSERT(data);
+            memset(data, 0, size);
             ov_buffer = std::make_shared<ov::Tensor>(ov::element::u8, ov::Shape{size}, data);
         }