diff --git a/onnxruntime/core/optimizer/qdq_transformer/selectors_actions/qdq_selectors.cc b/onnxruntime/core/optimizer/qdq_transformer/selectors_actions/qdq_selectors.cc
index 838a03ca5f..398ce6aa97 100644
--- a/onnxruntime/core/optimizer/qdq_transformer/selectors_actions/qdq_selectors.cc
+++ b/onnxruntime/core/optimizer/qdq_transformer/selectors_actions/qdq_selectors.cc
@@ -51,6 +51,14 @@ bool NodeGroupSelector::CheckQDQNodes(const GraphViewer& graph_viewer, const Nod
     return false;
   }
 
+  auto does_node_produce_graph_output = [&graph_viewer](const Node* node_ptr) {
+    return graph_viewer.NodeProducesGraphOutput(*node_ptr);
+  };
+
+  if (std::any_of(dq_nodes.begin(), dq_nodes.end(), does_node_produce_graph_output)) {
+    return false;
+  }
+
   if (q_nodes.empty()) {
     return is_empty_q_nodes_allowed;
   }
diff --git a/onnxruntime/test/optimizer/qdq_transformer_test.cc b/onnxruntime/test/optimizer/qdq_transformer_test.cc
index 039bce599a..b253273c5b 100644
--- a/onnxruntime/test/optimizer/qdq_transformer_test.cc
+++ b/onnxruntime/test/optimizer/qdq_transformer_test.cc
@@ -2760,5 +2760,61 @@ TEST(QDQTransformerTests, QDQFinalCleanupTransformer_GraphInputToOutput) {
   test_case(false);
 }
 
+// Not fuse if DQ produces graph output
+TEST(QDQTransformerTests, DQ_Produce_Graph_Output) {
+  auto test_case = [&](const std::vector<int64_t>& input_shape, int64_t axis) {
+    auto build_test_case = [&](ModelTestBuilder& builder) {
+      auto* input_arg = builder.MakeInput<float>(input_shape, -5.f, 5.f);
+      auto* dq_output_arg = builder.MakeOutput();
+      auto* output_arg = builder.MakeOutput();
+      // add input QDQ
+      auto* input_q_output = builder.MakeIntermediate();
+      builder.AddQuantizeLinearNode<uint8_t>(input_arg,
+                                             .105f,
+                                             127,
+                                             input_q_output);
+      builder.AddDequantizeLinearNode<uint8_t>(input_q_output,
+                                               .105f,
+                                               127,
+                                               dq_output_arg);
+
+      // add Softmax
+      auto* softmax_output = builder.MakeIntermediate();
+      auto& softmax_node = builder.AddNode("Softmax", {dq_output_arg}, {softmax_output});
+      softmax_node.AddAttribute("axis", axis);
+
+      // add output QDQ
+      auto* q_output = builder.MakeIntermediate();
+      builder.AddQuantizeLinearNode<uint8_t>(softmax_output,
+                                             1.0f / (std::numeric_limits<uint8_t>::max() + 1),
+                                             0,
+                                             q_output);
+      builder.AddDequantizeLinearNode<uint8_t>(q_output,
+                                               1.0f / (std::numeric_limits<uint8_t>::max() + 1),
+                                               0,
+                                               output_arg);
+    };
+
+    auto check_graph = [&](InferenceSessionWrapper& session) {
+      auto op_to_count = CountOpsInGraph(session.GetGraph());
+      EXPECT_EQ(op_to_count["com.microsoft.QLinearSoftmax"], 0);
+      EXPECT_EQ(op_to_count["Softmax"], 1);
+      EXPECT_EQ(op_to_count["QuantizeLinear"], 2);
+      EXPECT_EQ(op_to_count["DequantizeLinear"], 2);
+    };
+
+    TransformerTester(build_test_case,
+                      check_graph,
+                      TransformerLevel::Level1,
+                      TransformerLevel::Level2,
+                      12 /*opset_version*/,
+                      0.01 /*per_sample_tolerance*/,
+                      0.01 /*relative_per_sample_tolerance*/,
+                      std::make_unique<QDQSelectorActionTransformer>(QDQIsInt8Allowed()));
+  };
+
+  test_case({1, 12, 37}, -1);
+}
+
 }  // namespace test
 }  // namespace onnxruntime