diff --git a/src/relax/transform/dead_code_elimination.cc b/src/relax/transform/dead_code_elimination.cc
index 6d9f25296a5a..248e4c1c00b7 100644
--- a/src/relax/transform/dead_code_elimination.cc
+++ b/src/relax/transform/dead_code_elimination.cc
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ IRModule DeadCodeElimination(const IRModule& arg_mod, Array<runtime::String> ent
     entry_functions.insert(mod->GetGlobalVar(name));
   }
   for (const auto& [gv, func] : mod->functions) {
-    if (func->GetLinkageType() == LinkageType::kExternal) {
+    if (func.as<ExternFuncNode>() || func->GetLinkageType() == LinkageType::kExternal) {
       entry_functions.insert(gv);
     }
   }
diff --git a/tests/python/relax/test_transform_dead_code_elimination.py b/tests/python/relax/test_transform_dead_code_elimination.py
index 7b749d677880..c0a2d47b19f1 100644
--- a/tests/python/relax/test_transform_dead_code_elimination.py
+++ b/tests/python/relax/test_transform_dead_code_elimination.py
@@ -497,5 +497,15 @@ def main(
     verify(Input, Expected)
 
 
+def test_extern_func():
+    """DeadCodeElimination should retain the ExternFunc in the IRModule."""
+
+    builder = tvm.relax.BlockBuilder()
+    builder.add_func(tvm.relax.extern("extern_func"), "extern_func")
+    before = builder.get()
+
+    verify(before, before)
+
+
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     tvm.testing.main()