diff --git a/config/plugins/esbuild/graphQLImportPlugin.ts b/config/plugins/esbuild/graphQLImportPlugin.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c09a5907b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/plugins/esbuild/graphQLImportPlugin.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+import fs from 'fs/promises'
+import type { Plugin } from 'esbuild'
+
+/**
+ * A plugin to replace `require('graphql')` statements with `await import('graphql')`
+ * only for ESM bundles. This makes the GraphQL module to be imported lazily
+ * while maintaining the CommonJS compatibility.
+ * @see https://github.com/mswjs/msw/issues/2254
+ */
+export function graphqlImportPlugin(): Plugin {
+  return {
+    name: 'graphql-import-plugin',
+    setup(build) {
+      if (build.initialOptions.format !== 'esm') {
+        return
+      }
+
+      build.onLoad({ filter: /\.ts$/ }, async (args) => {
+        const contents = await fs.readFile(args.path, 'utf-8')
+        const match = /require\(['"]graphql['"]\)/g.exec(contents)
+
+        if (match) {
+          return {
+            loader: 'ts',
+            contents:
+              contents.slice(0, match.index - 1) +
+              `await import('graphql').catch((error) => {console.error('[MSW] Failed to parse a GraphQL query: cannot import the "graphql" module. Please make sure you install it if you wish to intercept GraphQL requests. See the original import error below.'); throw error})` +
+              contents.slice(match.index + match[0].length),
+          }
+        }
+      })
+    },
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/core/utils/internal/parseGraphQLRequest.ts b/src/core/utils/internal/parseGraphQLRequest.ts
index 81f6b1097..922375fae 100644
--- a/src/core/utils/internal/parseGraphQLRequest.ts
+++ b/src/core/utils/internal/parseGraphQLRequest.ts
@@ -40,12 +40,14 @@ export function parseDocumentNode(node: DocumentNode): ParsedGraphQLQuery {
 }
 
 async function parseQuery(query: string): Promise<ParsedGraphQLQuery | Error> {
-  const { parse } = await import('graphql').catch((error) => {
-    devUtils.error(
-      'Failed to parse a GraphQL query: cannot import the "graphql" module. Please make sure you install it if you wish to intercept GraphQL requests. See the original import error below.',
-    )
-    throw error
-  })
+  /**
+   * @note Use `require` to get the "graphql" module here.
+   * It has to be scoped to this function because this module leaks to the
+   * root export. It has to be `require` because tools like Jest have trouble
+   * handling dynamic imports. It gets replaced with a dynamic import on build time.
+   */
+  // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-require-imports
+  const { parse } = require('graphql')
 
   try {
     const ast = parse(query)
diff --git a/tsup.config.ts b/tsup.config.ts
index 68c889463..8c606d11e 100644
--- a/tsup.config.ts
+++ b/tsup.config.ts
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import {
 } from './config/plugins/esbuild/copyWorkerPlugin'
 import { resolveCoreImportsPlugin } from './config/plugins/esbuild/resolveCoreImportsPlugin'
 import { forceEsmExtensionsPlugin } from './config/plugins/esbuild/forceEsmExtensionsPlugin'
+import { graphqlImportPlugin } from './config/plugins/esbuild/graphQLImportPlugin'
 import packageJson from './package.json'
 
 // Externalize the in-house dependencies so that the user
@@ -33,7 +34,7 @@ const coreConfig: Options = {
   sourcemap: true,
   dts: true,
   tsconfig: path.resolve(__dirname, 'src/tsconfig.core.build.json'),
-  esbuildPlugins: [forceEsmExtensionsPlugin()],
+  esbuildPlugins: [graphqlImportPlugin(), forceEsmExtensionsPlugin()],
 }
 
 const nodeConfig: Options = {