diff --git a/scripts/compute_norm_stats.py b/scripts/compute_norm_stats.py
index c8aef87222..7f4067798b 100644
--- a/scripts/compute_norm_stats.py
+++ b/scripts/compute_norm_stats.py
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 import openpi.training.config as _config
 import openpi.training.data_loader as _data_loader
 import openpi.transforms as transforms
+import jax
 
 
 class RemoveStrings(transforms.DataTransformFn):
@@ -47,9 +48,12 @@ def create_torch_dataloader(
     else:
         num_batches = len(dataset) // batch_size
         shuffle = False
+    # Single-device sharding: batch size is often 1 for stats; multi-GPU default
+    # mesh sharding cannot split size-1 batches (see openpi#438).
     data_loader = _data_loader.TorchDataLoader(
         dataset,
         local_batch_size=batch_size,
+        sharding=jax.sharding.SingleDeviceSharding(jax.devices()[0]),
         num_workers=num_workers,
         shuffle=shuffle,
         num_batches=num_batches,