diff --git a/src/libraries/Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyModel/src/DependencyContextPaths.cs b/src/libraries/Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyModel/src/DependencyContextPaths.cs
index 4d056a25bd76c0..b5c6730eef3eec 100644
--- a/src/libraries/Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyModel/src/DependencyContextPaths.cs
+++ b/src/libraries/Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyModel/src/DependencyContextPaths.cs
@@ -20,8 +20,6 @@ internal sealed class DependencyContextPaths
 
         public IEnumerable<string> NonApplicationPaths { get; }
 
-        private static readonly char[] s_semicolon = new[] { ';' };
-
         public DependencyContextPaths(
             string? application,
             string? sharedRuntime,
@@ -42,7 +40,13 @@ private static DependencyContextPaths GetCurrent()
 
         internal static DependencyContextPaths Create(string? depsFiles, string? sharedRuntime)
         {
-            string[]? files = depsFiles?.Split(s_semicolon, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
+#if NETCOREAPP
+            const char separator = ';';
+#else
+            // This method is only executed once at startup. No need to cache the char[].
+            char[] separator = { ';' };
+#endif
+            string[]? files = depsFiles?.Split(separator, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
             string? application = files != null && files.Length > 0 ? files[0] : null;
 
             string[]? nonApplicationPaths = files?
diff --git a/src/libraries/Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyModel/tests/DependencyContextTests.cs b/src/libraries/Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyModel/tests/DependencyContextTests.cs
index 0c570d6a441f25..f657aead2a5780 100644
--- a/src/libraries/Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyModel/tests/DependencyContextTests.cs
+++ b/src/libraries/Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyModel/tests/DependencyContextTests.cs
@@ -276,6 +276,19 @@ public void MergeMergesRuntimeGraph()
                 Subject.Fallbacks.Should().BeEquivalentTo("win7-x64", "win7-x86");
         }
 
+        [Fact]
+        [SkipOnTargetFramework(TargetFrameworkMonikers.NetFramework, "GetEntryAssembly() returns null")]
+        public void DefaultWorksCorrectly()
+        {
+            // only need to assert the context contains non-null properties.
+
+            var context = DependencyContext.Default;
+            Assert.NotNull(context);
+            Assert.NotNull(context.RuntimeGraph);
+            Assert.NotNull(context.RuntimeLibraries);
+            Assert.NotNull(context.Target);
+        }
+
         private TargetInfo CreateTargetInfo()
         {
             return new TargetInfo(