diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index f7ccedb32..9b20f3bc0 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@ PLEASE REMEMBER TO CHANGE THE '..main' WITH AN ACTUAL TAG in GITHUB LINK.
 ## jax 0.2.28 (Unreleased)
 * [GitHub
   commits](https://github.com/google/jax/compare/jax-v0.2.27...main).
+  * The `jax.jit(f).lower(...).compiler_ir(dialect='mhlo')` now returns an MLIR
+    `ir.Module` object instead of its string representation.
 
 ## jaxlib 0.1.76 (Unreleased)
 
diff --git a/jax/_src/dispatch.py b/jax/_src/dispatch.py
index 0d2f65fde..deae68b16 100644
--- a/jax/_src/dispatch.py
+++ b/jax/_src/dispatch.py
@@ -510,12 +510,14 @@ class XlaComputation:
         mlir.module_to_string(self._hlo),
         use_tuple_args=self.compile_args["tuple_args"])
 
-  def mhlo(self) -> str:
+  def mhlo(self) -> ir.Module:
     if self.is_trivial():
       raise ValueError("A trivial computation has no MHLO")
     if isinstance(self._hlo, xc.XlaComputation):
-      return xe.mlir.xla_computation_to_mlir_module(self._hlo)
-    return mlir.module_to_string(self._hlo)
+      module_str = xe.mlir.xla_computation_to_mlir_module(self._hlo)
+      with mlir.make_ir_context():
+        return ir.Module.parse(module_str)
+    return self._hlo
 
   def compile(self) -> 'XlaCompiledComputation':
     if self._executable is None:
diff --git a/jax/interpreters/mlir.py b/jax/interpreters/mlir.py
index 317f1cc1d..87b067bfc 100644
--- a/jax/interpreters/mlir.py
+++ b/jax/interpreters/mlir.py
@@ -281,6 +281,14 @@ def _source_info_to_location(
 
 # Translation rules
 
+def make_ir_context() -> ir.Context:
+  """Creates an MLIR context suitable for JAX IR."""
+  context = ir.Context()
+  mhlo.register_mhlo_dialect(context)
+  chlo.register_chlo_dialect(context)
+  return context
+
+
 @dataclasses.dataclass
 class ModuleContext:
   """Module-wide context information for MLIR lowering."""
@@ -303,7 +311,7 @@ class ModuleContext:
       symbol_table: Optional[ir.SymbolTable] = None,
       cached_primitive_lowerings: Optional[Dict[Any, builtin.FuncOp]] = None):
     assert platform is not None
-    self.context = context or ir.Context()
+    self.context = context or make_ir_context()
     self.module = module or ir.Module.create(loc=ir.Location.unknown(self.context))
     self.ip = ip or ir.InsertionPoint(self.module.operation.opview.body)
     self.symbol_table = symbol_table or ir.SymbolTable(self.module.operation)
@@ -312,8 +320,6 @@ class ModuleContext:
     self.name_stack = name_stack
     self.cached_primitive_lowerings = ({} if cached_primitive_lowerings is None
                                        else cached_primitive_lowerings)
-    mhlo.register_mhlo_dialect(self.context)
-    chlo.register_chlo_dialect(self.context)
 
   def replace(self, **kw): return dataclasses.replace(self, **kw)
 
diff --git a/jax/interpreters/pxla.py b/jax/interpreters/pxla.py
index 7efca3d8c..7ba45ac36 100644
--- a/jax/interpreters/pxla.py
+++ b/jax/interpreters/pxla.py
@@ -1040,7 +1040,8 @@ def lower_parallel_callable(
 
 
 class PmapComputation:
-  def __init__(self, hlo, **compile_args):
+  _hlo: Union[ir.Module, xc.XlaComputation]
+  def __init__(self, hlo: Union[ir.Module, xc.XlaComputation], **compile_args):
     self._executable = None
     self._hlo = hlo
     self.compile_args = compile_args
@@ -1054,10 +1055,12 @@ class PmapComputation:
           mlir.module_to_string(self._hlo),
           use_tuple_args=self.compile_args["tuple_args"])
 
-  def mhlo(self) -> str:
+  def mhlo(self) -> ir.Module:
     if isinstance(self._hlo, xc.XlaComputation):
-      return xe.mlir.xla_computation_to_mlir_module(self._hlo)
-    return mlir.module_to_string(self._hlo)
+      module_str = xe.mlir.xla_computation_to_mlir_module(self._hlo)
+      with mlir.make_ir_context():
+        return ir.Module.parse(module_str)
+    return self._hlo
 
   @profiler.annotate_function
   def compile(self):
@@ -2015,9 +2018,10 @@ def lower_mesh_computation(
 
 
 class MeshComputation:
+  _hlo: Union[ir.Module, xc.XlaComputation]
   _executable: Optional['MeshExecutable']
 
-  def __init__(self, name: str, hlo: Union[str, xc.XlaComputation],
+  def __init__(self, name: str, hlo: Union[ir.Module, xc.XlaComputation],
                donated_invars: Sequence[bool], **compile_args):
     self._name = name
     self._hlo = hlo
@@ -2035,8 +2039,10 @@ class MeshComputation:
 
   def mhlo(self) -> str:
     if isinstance(self._hlo, xc.XlaComputation):
-      return xe.mlir.xla_computation_to_mlir_module(self._hlo)
-    return mlir.module_to_string(self._hlo)
+      module_str = xe.mlir.xla_computation_to_mlir_module(self._hlo)
+      with mlir.make_ir_context():
+        return ir.Module.parse(module_str)
+    return self._hlo
 
   def compile(self,
               _allow_propagation_to_outputs : bool = False,
diff --git a/tests/api_test.py b/tests/api_test.py
index 1b0029c84..e50ef7098 100644
--- a/tests/api_test.py
+++ b/tests/api_test.py
@@ -1994,7 +1994,7 @@ class APITest(jtu.JaxTestCase):
     hlo = api.jit(e).lower(2.).compiler_ir(dialect="hlo").as_hlo_text()
     self.assertIn(' cosine', hlo)
     self.assertIn(' sine', hlo)
-    mhlo = api.jit(e).lower(2.).compiler_ir(dialect="mhlo")
+    mhlo = str(api.jit(e).lower(2.).compiler_ir(dialect="mhlo"))
     self.assertIn('mhlo.cosine', mhlo)
     self.assertIn('mhlo.sine', mhlo)
 
diff --git a/tests/pjit_test.py b/tests/pjit_test.py
index 9f6212bf1..826d8b283 100644
--- a/tests/pjit_test.py
+++ b/tests/pjit_test.py
@@ -256,9 +256,9 @@ class PJitTest(jtu.BufferDonationTestCase):
     self.assertAllClose(actual, expected, check_dtypes=False)
     self.assertLen(actual[0]['a'].device_buffers, 4)
 
-    compiler_ir = f.lower(x).compiler_ir(dialect="mhlo")
-    self.assertIn("unspecified_dims=[0]", compiler_ir)
-    self.assertIn("unspecified_dims=[1]", compiler_ir)
+    mhlo_str = str(f.lower(x).compiler_ir(dialect="mhlo"))
+    self.assertIn("unspecified_dims=[0]", mhlo_str)
+    self.assertIn("unspecified_dims=[1]", mhlo_str)
 
   def testCaching(self):
     def f(x):