diff --git a/optimum/onnxruntime/optimization.py b/optimum/onnxruntime/optimization.py
index 527ec56115f..f28a8b4fcfd 100644
--- a/optimum/onnxruntime/optimization.py
+++ b/optimum/onnxruntime/optimization.py
@@ -143,20 +143,30 @@ def optimize(
         LOGGER.info("Optimizing model...")
 
         for model_path in self.onnx_model_path:
-            optimizer = optimize_model(
-                model_path.as_posix(),
-                model_type,
-                self.normalized_config.num_attention_heads,
-                self.normalized_config.hidden_size,
-                opt_level=optimization_config.optimization_level,
-                optimization_options=optimization_options,
-                use_gpu=optimization_config.optimize_for_gpu,
-                only_onnxruntime=not optimization_config.enable_transformers_specific_optimizations,
-            )
-
-            if optimization_config.fp16:
-                # keep_io_types to keep inputs/outputs as float32
-                optimizer.convert_float_to_float16(keep_io_types=True)
+            try:
+                optimizer = optimize_model(
+                    model_path.as_posix(),
+                    model_type,
+                    self.normalized_config.num_attention_heads,
+                    self.normalized_config.hidden_size,
+                    opt_level=optimization_config.optimization_level,
+                    optimization_options=optimization_options,
+                    use_gpu=optimization_config.optimize_for_gpu,
+                    only_onnxruntime=not optimization_config.enable_transformers_specific_optimizations,
+                )
+
+                if optimization_config.fp16:
+                    # keep_io_types to keep inputs/outputs as float32
+                    optimizer.convert_float_to_float16(
+                        use_symbolic_shape_infer=not optimization_config.disable_shape_inference, keep_io_types=True
+                    )
+            except Exception as e:
+                if "Incomplete symbolic shape inference" in str(e):
+                    err = RuntimeError(
+                        f"{str(e)}. Try to set `disable_shape_inference=True` in your optimization configuration."
+                    )
+                    raise err from e
+                raise
 
             suffix = f"_{file_suffix}" if file_suffix else ""
             output_path = save_dir.joinpath(f"{model_path.stem}{suffix}").with_suffix(model_path.suffix)