diff --git a/cpp/src/io/orc/reader_impl_chunking.cu b/cpp/src/io/orc/reader_impl_chunking.cu
index 01ee5ad177d..ecf319e75ab 100644
--- a/cpp/src/io/orc/reader_impl_chunking.cu
+++ b/cpp/src/io/orc/reader_impl_chunking.cu
@@ -500,6 +500,8 @@ void reader_impl::load_next_stripe_data(read_mode mode)
   auto const [read_begin, read_end] =
     merge_selected_ranges(_file_itm_data.stripe_data_read_ranges, load_stripe_range);
 
+  bool stream_synchronized{false};
+
   for (auto read_idx = read_begin; read_idx < read_end; ++read_idx) {
     auto const& read_info = _file_itm_data.data_read_info[read_idx];
     auto const source_ptr = _metadata.per_file_metadata[read_info.source_idx].source;
@@ -507,6 +509,13 @@ void reader_impl::load_next_stripe_data(read_mode mode)
       lvl_stripe_data[read_info.level][read_info.stripe_idx - stripe_start].data());
 
     if (source_ptr->is_device_read_preferred(read_info.length)) {
+      // `device_read_async` may not use _stream at all.
+      // Instead, it may use some other stream(s) to sync the H->D memcpy.
+      // As such, we need to make sure the device buffers in `lvl_stripe_data` are ready first.
+      if (!stream_synchronized) {
+        _stream.synchronize();
+        stream_synchronized = true;
+      }
       device_read_tasks.push_back(
         std::pair(source_ptr->device_read_async(
                     read_info.offset, read_info.length, dst_base + read_info.dst_pos, _stream),