diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 2d5fa9428..5ac7e96e5 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -9,6 +9,11 @@ PLEASE REMEMBER TO CHANGE THE '..main' WITH AN ACTUAL TAG in GITHUB LINK.
 -->
 
 ## jax 0.3.21
+* Changes
+  * The persistent compilation cache will now warn instead of raising an
+    exception on error ({jax-issue}`#12582`), so program execution can continue
+    if something goes wrong with the cache. Set
+    `JAX_RAISE_PERSISTENT_CACHE_ERRORS=true` to revert this behavior.
 
 ## jaxlib 0.3.21
 
diff --git a/jax/_src/config.py b/jax/_src/config.py
index e4421f925..e4c6411e1 100644
--- a/jax/_src/config.py
+++ b/jax/_src/config.py
@@ -699,6 +699,16 @@ enable_custom_vjp_by_custom_transpose = config.define_bool_state(
     help=('Enables an internal upgrade that implements `jax.custom_vjp` by '
           'reduction to `jax.custom_jvp` and `jax.custom_transpose`.'))
 
+raise_persistent_cache_errors = config.define_bool_state(
+    name='jax_raise_persistent_cache_errors',
+    default=False,
+    help=('If true, exceptions raised when reading or writing to the '
+          'persistent compilation cache will be allowed through, halting '
+          'program execution if not manually caught. If false, exceptions are '
+          'caught and raised as warnings, allowing program execution to '
+          'continue. Defaults to false so cache bugs or intermittent issues '
+          'are non-fatal.'))
+
 hlo_source_file_canonicalization_regex = config.define_string_state(
     name='jax_hlo_source_file_canonicalization_regex',
     default=None,
diff --git a/jax/_src/dispatch.py b/jax/_src/dispatch.py
index 60d11034b..531049c33 100644
--- a/jax/_src/dispatch.py
+++ b/jax/_src/dispatch.py
@@ -78,6 +78,7 @@ Device = xc.Device
 Buffer = xe.Buffer
 
 XlaExecutable = xc.Executable
+CompileOptions = xc.CompileOptions
 
 map, unsafe_map = util.safe_map, map
 zip, unsafe_zip = util.safe_zip, zip
@@ -1016,6 +1017,10 @@ def compile_or_get_cached(backend, computation: ir.Module, compile_options,
 
   sym_name = computation.operation.attributes['sym_name']
   module_name = ir.StringAttr(sym_name).value
+
+  if FLAGS.jax_dump_ir_to:
+    _dump_ir_to_file(module_name, mlir.module_to_string(computation))
+
   # Convert ir.Module to a string representation, unless the
   # back-end expliclity flags the ability to handle a module directly
   # (avoiding the overhead of back and forth conversions)
@@ -1036,23 +1041,57 @@ def compile_or_get_cached(backend, computation: ir.Module, compile_options,
   if "--xla_gpu_enable_xla_runtime_executable=true" in os.environ.get("XLA_FLAGS", ""):
     supported_platforms.append("gpu")
   if cc.is_initialized() and backend.platform in supported_platforms:
-    cached_executable = cc.get_executable(serialized_computation,
-                                          compile_options, backend)
+    cached_executable = _cache_read(serialized_computation, module_name,
+                                    compile_options, backend)
     if cached_executable is not None:
-      logging.info('Persistent compilation cache hit for %s.', module_name)
+      logging.info("Persistent compilation cache hit for '%s'", module_name)
       return cached_executable
     else:
       compiled = backend_compile(backend, serialized_computation,
                                  compile_options, host_callbacks)
-      cc.put_executable(module_name, serialized_computation, compile_options,
-                        compiled, backend)
+      _cache_write(serialized_computation, module_name,  compile_options,
+                   backend, compiled)
       return compiled
 
-  if FLAGS.jax_dump_ir_to:
-    _dump_ir_to_file(module_name, mlir.module_to_string(computation))
   return backend_compile(backend, serialized_computation, compile_options,
                          host_callbacks)
 
+def _cache_read(computation: Union[str, bytes, ir.Module],
+                module_name: str,
+                compile_options: CompileOptions,
+                backend: Backend) -> Optional[XlaExecutable]:
+  """Looks up `computation` in the persisent compilation cache."""
+  # Avoid import cycle between jax and jax.experimental
+  from jax.experimental.compilation_cache import compilation_cache as cc
+
+  try:
+    return cc.get_executable(computation, compile_options, backend)
+  except Exception as ex:
+    if config.jax_raise_persistent_cache_errors:
+      raise
+    warnings.warn(
+        f"Error reading persistent compilation cache entry for "
+        f"'{module_name}': {type(ex).__name__}: {ex}")
+    return None
+
+def _cache_write(computation: Union[str, bytes, ir.Module],
+                 module_name: str,
+                 compile_options: CompileOptions,
+                 backend: Backend,
+                 compiled: XlaExecutable):
+  """Writes `computation` to the persistent compilation cache."""
+  # Avoid import cycle between jax and jax.experimental
+  from jax.experimental.compilation_cache import compilation_cache as cc
+
+  try:
+    cc.put_executable(module_name, computation, compile_options, compiled,
+                      backend)
+  except Exception as ex:
+    if config.jax_raise_persistent_cache_errors:
+      raise
+    warnings.warn(
+        f"Error writing persistent compilation cache entry for "
+        f"'{module_name}': {type(ex).__name__}: {ex}")
 
 def get_buffer_counts(out_avals, ordered_effects, has_unordered_effects):
   buffer_counts = [aval_to_num_buffers(aval) for aval in out_avals]
diff --git a/tests/compilation_cache_test.py b/tests/compilation_cache_test.py
index bf959dd54..c603d1cdf 100644
--- a/tests/compilation_cache_test.py
+++ b/tests/compilation_cache_test.py
@@ -19,7 +19,8 @@ import random
 import sys
 import tempfile
 import unittest
-from unittest import SkipTest
+from unittest import mock, SkipTest
+import warnings
 
 from absl.testing import absltest
 from jax.experimental import PartitionSpec as P
@@ -35,9 +36,12 @@ from jax._src.lib import xla_client
 import numpy as np
 
 from jax.config import config
+from jax._src.config import raise_persistent_cache_errors
+
 config.parse_flags_with_absl()
 FLAGS = config.FLAGS
 
+@jtu.with_config(jax_raise_persistent_cache_errors=True)
 class CompilationCacheTest(jtu.JaxTestCase):
 
   def setUp(self):
@@ -295,6 +299,38 @@ class CompilationCacheTest(jtu.JaxTestCase):
       files_in_directory = len(os.listdir(tmpdir))
       self.assertEqual(files_in_directory, 2)
 
+  def test_cache_write_warning(self):
+    with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tmpdir:
+      cc.initialize_cache(tmpdir)
+      f = jit(lambda x: x*x)
+
+      with raise_persistent_cache_errors(False), \
+           mock.patch.object(cc._cache.__class__, 'put') as mock_put, \
+           warnings.catch_warnings(record=True) as w:
+        mock_put.side_effect = RuntimeError("test error")
+        self.assertEqual(f(2), 4)
+        self.assertLen(w, 1)
+        self.assertIn(
+            "Error writing persistent compilation cache entry "
+            "for 'jit__lambda_': RuntimeError: test error",
+            str(w[0].message))
+
+  def test_cache_read_warning(self):
+    with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tmpdir:
+      cc.initialize_cache(tmpdir)
+      f = jit(lambda x: x*x)
+
+      with raise_persistent_cache_errors(False), \
+           mock.patch.object(cc._cache.__class__, 'get') as mock_get, \
+           warnings.catch_warnings(record=True) as w:
+        mock_get.side_effect = RuntimeError("test error")
+        self.assertEqual(f(2), 4)
+        self.assertLen(w, 1)
+        self.assertIn(
+            "Error reading persistent compilation cache entry "
+            "for 'jit__lambda_': RuntimeError: test error",
+            str(w[0].message))
+
   def create_new_debug_options(self, debug_options_obj):
     debug_options_obj.xla_cpu_enable_fast_math = False
     debug_options_obj.xla_cpu_fast_math_honor_infs = False