diff --git a/core/dbt/artifacts/resources/v1/semantic_model.py b/core/dbt/artifacts/resources/v1/semantic_model.py
index b219b2bdcc8..8a02aa5fa61 100644
--- a/core/dbt/artifacts/resources/v1/semantic_model.py
+++ b/core/dbt/artifacts/resources/v1/semantic_model.py
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ class NodeRelation(dbtClassMixin):
     alias: str
     schema_name: str  # TODO: Could this be called simply "schema" so we could reuse StateRelation?
     database: Optional[str] = None
-    relation_name: Optional[str] = None
+    relation_name: Optional[str] = ""
 
 
 # ====================================