diff --git a/megatron/core/models/mimo/optimizer.py b/megatron/core/models/mimo/optimizer.py
index 1a79c1f91ff..09b230e1557 100644
--- a/megatron/core/models/mimo/optimizer.py
+++ b/megatron/core/models/mimo/optimizer.py
@@ -253,7 +253,13 @@ def _restore_param_groups(sub_sd, inner_optimizer, module_name):
         )
     for loaded_g, current_g in zip(loaded_pg, current_pg):
         loaded_g['params'] = current_g['params']
-    sub_sd['optimizer']['param_groups'] = loaded_pg
+    # `sub_sd['optimizer']` may be absent on load: when the per-module state_dict
+    # produced by DistributedOptimizer.state_dict() only contains `param_groups`
+    # under the 'optimizer' key, `_extract_param_groups` removes it at save time
+    # and the resulting empty dict can be dropped during dist_checkpointing
+    # common-state save/load. Use setdefault so the restored param_groups land
+    # in the right place regardless.
+    sub_sd.setdefault('optimizer', {})['param_groups'] = loaded_pg
 
 
 def _restore_grad_scaler(sub_sd):
@@ -267,17 +273,21 @@ def _restore_grad_scaler(sub_sd):
 def _get_replica_id(pg_collection: Optional[ProcessGroupCollection]) -> tuple:
     """Build replica_id tuple for ShardedObject deduplication.
 
-    Includes pp_rank so only one PP stage writes the metadata,
-    and dp_rank so only dp_rank=0 writes (others are replicas).
+    Returns (tp_rank, pp_rank, dp_rank) so only (0, 0, 0) within each
+    module's parallelism group is the main replica; all other ranks
+    in the same module are non-main replicas of the same object.
     """
     assert pg_collection is not None, "pg_collection required for checkpoint replica_id"
+    assert (
+        hasattr(pg_collection, 'tp') and pg_collection.tp is not None
+    ), "pg_collection.tp must be set for checkpoint deduplication"
     assert (
         hasattr(pg_collection, 'pp') and pg_collection.pp is not None
     ), "pg_collection.pp must be set for checkpoint deduplication"
     assert (
         hasattr(pg_collection, 'dp') and pg_collection.dp is not None
     ), "pg_collection.dp must be set for checkpoint deduplication"
-    return (0, pg_collection.pp.rank(), pg_collection.dp.rank())
+    return (pg_collection.tp.rank(), pg_collection.pp.rank(), pg_collection.dp.rank())
 
 
 def _get_pg_collection_for_optimizer(grid) -> ProcessGroupCollection:
diff --git a/tests/unit_tests/models/test_mimo_checkpoint.py b/tests/unit_tests/models/test_mimo_checkpoint.py
index 3dc75a05a87..5cb28313cfd 100644
--- a/tests/unit_tests/models/test_mimo_checkpoint.py
+++ b/tests/unit_tests/models/test_mimo_checkpoint.py
@@ -139,9 +139,12 @@ def run_checkpoint_test(
         # Save model
         save(model_a.sharded_state_dict(), model_ckpt)
 
-        # Save optimizer (needs fresh model sharded_state_dict since save() consumes tensor refs)
+        # Save optimizer (needs fresh model sharded_state_dict since save() consumes tensor refs).
+        # validate_access_integrity=True is the regression guard for the _get_replica_id fix:
+        # without including TP rank in replica_id, every TP rank at (pp=0, dp=0) would emit
+        # the same `_mimo_*` ShardedObject as a main replica, producing duplicate-key errors.
         optim_sd_a = optimizer_a.sharded_state_dict(model_a.sharded_state_dict(), is_loading=False)
-        save(optim_sd_a, optim_ckpt, validate_access_integrity=False)
+        save(optim_sd_a, optim_ckpt, validate_access_integrity=True)
 
         dist.barrier()