diff --git a/xla/service/cpu/runtime/thunk_executor.cc b/xla/service/cpu/runtime/thunk_executor.cc
index 155edd9bdbca6..f25fd6119a284 100644
--- a/xla/service/cpu/runtime/thunk_executor.cc
+++ b/xla/service/cpu/runtime/thunk_executor.cc
@@ -162,6 +162,12 @@ tsl::AsyncValueRef<ThunkExecutor::ExecuteEvent> ThunkExecutor::Execute(
   Execute(state.get(), params, ReadyQueue(source_.begin(), source_.end()),
           /*lock=*/params.session.Join());
 
+  // If execution already completed (all kernels executed in the caller thread),
+  // immediately return the result to avoid wasteful reference counting below.
+  if (ABSL_PREDICT_TRUE(state->execute_event.IsAvailable())) {
+    return std::move(state->execute_event);
+  }
+
   // Move execute state to the execute event callback to ensure that it is kept
   // alive while thunk executor has pending tasks.
   auto execute_event = state->execute_event;