diff --git a/crates/wasmtime/src/runtime/vm/table.rs b/crates/wasmtime/src/runtime/vm/table.rs
index c18b861578e1..dc52dd32fead 100644
--- a/crates/wasmtime/src/runtime/vm/table.rs
+++ b/crates/wasmtime/src/runtime/vm/table.rs
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@
 use crate::prelude::*;
 use crate::runtime::vm::vmcontext::{VMFuncRef, VMTableDefinition};
 use crate::runtime::vm::{GcStore, SendSyncPtr, VMGcRef, VMStore};
+use core::alloc::Layout;
+use core::mem;
 use core::ops::Range;
 use core::ptr::{self, NonNull};
 use core::slice;
@@ -267,6 +269,45 @@ fn wasm_to_table_type(ty: WasmRefType) -> TableElementType {
     }
 }
 
+/// Allocate dynamic table elements of the given length.
+///
+/// Relies on the fact that our tables' elements are initialized to `None`,
+/// which is represented by zero, to allocate pre-zeroed memory from the global
+/// allocator and avoid manual zero-initialization.
+///
+/// # Safety
+///
+/// Should only ever be called with a `T` that is a table element type and where
+/// `Option<T>`'s `None` variant is represented with zero.
+unsafe fn alloc_dynamic_table_elements<T>(len: usize) -> Result<Vec<Option<T>>> {
+    debug_assert!(
+        core::mem::MaybeUninit::<Option<T>>::zeroed()
+            .assume_init()
+            .is_none(),
+        "null table elements are represented with zeroed memory"
+    );
+
+    if len == 0 {
+        return Ok(vec![]);
+    }
+
+    let align = mem::align_of::<Option<T>>();
+
+    let size = mem::size_of::<Option<T>>();
+    let size = size.next_multiple_of(align);
+    let size = size.checked_mul(len).unwrap();
+
+    let layout = Layout::from_size_align(size, align)?;
+
+    let ptr = alloc::alloc::alloc_zeroed(layout);
+    ensure!(!ptr.is_null(), "failed to allocate memory for table");
+
+    let elems = Vec::<Option<T>>::from_raw_parts(ptr.cast(), len, len);
+    debug_assert!(elems.iter().all(|e| e.is_none()));
+
+    Ok(elems)
+}
+
 impl Table {
     /// Create a new dynamic (movable) table instance for the specified table plan.
     pub fn new_dynamic(
@@ -277,12 +318,12 @@ impl Table {
         let (minimum, maximum) = Self::limit_new(ty, store)?;
         match wasm_to_table_type(ty.ref_type) {
             TableElementType::Func => Ok(Self::from(DynamicFuncTable {
-                elements: vec![None; minimum],
+                elements: unsafe { alloc_dynamic_table_elements(minimum)? },
                 maximum,
                 lazy_init: tunables.table_lazy_init,
             })),
             TableElementType::GcRef => Ok(Self::from(DynamicGcRefTable {
-                elements: (0..minimum).map(|_| None).collect(),
+                elements: unsafe { alloc_dynamic_table_elements(minimum)? },
                 maximum,
             })),
         }