diff --git a/optimum/exporters/openvino/__main__.py b/optimum/exporters/openvino/__main__.py
index a7d5874585..8152b92d29 100644
--- a/optimum/exporters/openvino/__main__.py
+++ b/optimum/exporters/openvino/__main__.py
@@ -27,12 +27,15 @@
 from optimum.utils import DEFAULT_DUMMY_SHAPES
 from optimum.utils.save_utils import maybe_save_preprocessors
 
+from ...intel.utils.import_utils import is_nncf_available
 from ...intel.utils.modeling_utils import patch_decoder_attention_mask
 from .convert import export_models
 
 
 OV_XML_FILE_NAME = "openvino_model.xml"
 
+_MAX_UNCOMPRESSED_DECODER_SIZE = 1e9
+
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 if is_torch_available():
@@ -232,6 +235,19 @@ def main_export(
         onnx_config_constructor = TasksManager.get_exporter_config_constructor(model=model, exporter="onnx", task=task)
         onnx_config = onnx_config_constructor(model.config)
         models_and_onnx_configs = {"model": (model, onnx_config)}
+        if model_kwargs is None:
+            model_kwargs = {}
+        load_in_8bit = model_kwargs.get("load_in_8bit", None)
+        if load_in_8bit is None:
+            if model.num_parameters() >= _MAX_UNCOMPRESSED_DECODER_SIZE:
+                model_kwargs["load_in_8bit"] = True
+            else:
+                model_kwargs["load_in_8bit"] = False
+        else:
+            if not is_nncf_available():
+                raise ImportError(
+                    "Quantization of the weights to int8 requires nncf, please install it with `pip install nncf`"
+                )
 
     if not is_stable_diffusion:
         needs_pad_token_id = (
diff --git a/optimum/exporters/openvino/convert.py b/optimum/exporters/openvino/convert.py
index 9a6cbec07b..b29efe253e 100644
--- a/optimum/exporters/openvino/convert.py
+++ b/optimum/exporters/openvino/convert.py
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
 from optimum.exporters.onnx.convert import export_tensorflow as export_tensorflow_onnx
 from optimum.utils import is_diffusers_available
 
+from ...intel.utils.import_utils import is_nncf_available
 from .utils import (
     OV_XML_FILE_NAME,
     clear_class_registry,
@@ -52,6 +53,19 @@
     from transformers.modeling_tf_utils import TFPreTrainedModel
 
 
+def _save_model(model, path: str, compress_to_fp16=False, load_in_8bit=False):
+    if load_in_8bit:
+        if not is_nncf_available():
+            logger.warning(
+                "The model will be converted with no weights quantization. Quantization of the weights to int8 requires nncf."
+                "please install it with `pip install nncf`"
+            )
+        import nncf
+
+        model = nncf.compress_weights(model)
+    save_model(model, path, compress_to_fp16)
+
+
 def export(
     model: Union["PreTrainedModel", "TFPreTrainedModel", "ModelMixin"],
     config: OnnxConfig,
@@ -137,7 +151,7 @@ def export_tensorflow(model: Union["PreTrainedModel", "ModelMixin"], config: Onn
     onnx_path = Path(output).with_suffix(".onnx")
     input_names, output_names = export_tensorflow_onnx(model, config, opset, onnx_path)
     ov_model = convert_model(str(onnx_path))
-    save_model(ov_model, output.parent / output, compress_to_fp16=False)
+    _save_model(ov_model, output.parent / output, compress_to_fp16=False, load_in_8bit=False)
     return input_names, output_names, True
 
 
@@ -187,10 +201,12 @@ def export_pytorch_via_onnx(
     )
     torch.onnx.export = orig_torch_onnx_export
     ov_model = convert_model(str(onnx_output))
-    save_model(
+    load_in_8bit = False if model_kwargs is None else model_kwargs.get("load_in_8bit", False)
+    _save_model(
         ov_model,
         output.parent / OV_XML_FILE_NAME if output.suffix != ".xml" else output,
         compress_to_fp16=False,
+        load_in_8bit=load_in_8bit,
     )
     return input_names, output_names, True
 
@@ -318,7 +334,8 @@ def ts_patched_forward(*args, **kwargs):
             inp_tensor.get_node().set_partial_shape(static_shape)
             inp_tensor.get_node().set_element_type(get_element_type(inp_data.cpu().numpy().dtype))
         ov_model.validate_nodes_and_infer_types()
-        save_model(ov_model, output, compress_to_fp16=False)
+        load_in_8bit = False if model_kwargs is None else model_kwargs.get("load_in_8bit", False)
+        _save_model(ov_model, output, compress_to_fp16=False, load_in_8bit=load_in_8bit)
         clear_class_registry()
         del model
         gc.collect()
diff --git a/optimum/intel/openvino/modeling_decoder.py b/optimum/intel/openvino/modeling_decoder.py
index 6c45172652..91a2c7ddc2 100644
--- a/optimum/intel/openvino/modeling_decoder.py
+++ b/optimum/intel/openvino/modeling_decoder.py
@@ -237,6 +237,7 @@ def _from_transformers(
             local_files_only=local_files_only,
             force_download=force_download,
             trust_remote_code=trust_remote_code,
+            model_kwargs=kwargs,
         )
 
         config.is_decoder = True