diff --git a/examples/hello_sparse.py b/examples/hello_sparse.py
index b6ac8f732..eab0c558e 100644
--- a/examples/hello_sparse.py
+++ b/examples/hello_sparse.py
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 import time
 
 import numpy as np
-from scipy.sparse import rand
+import random
 from pymilvus import (
     connections,
     utility,
@@ -20,7 +20,9 @@
 
 fmt = "=== {:30} ==="
 search_latency_fmt = "search latency = {:.4f}s"
-num_entities, dim, density = 1000, 3000, 0.005
+num_entities, dim = 1000, 3000
+# non zero count of randomly generated sparse vectors
+nnz = 30
 
 def log(msg):
     print(time.strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S", time.localtime()) + " " + msg)
@@ -54,11 +56,16 @@ def log(msg):
 # insert
 log(fmt.format("Start creating entities to insert"))
 rng = np.random.default_rng(seed=19530)
-# this step is so damn slow
-matrix_csr = rand(num_entities, dim, density=density, format='csr')
+
+def generate_sparse_vector(dimension: int, non_zero_count: int) -> dict:
+    indices = random.sample(range(dimension), non_zero_count)
+    values = [random.random() for _ in range(non_zero_count)]
+    sparse_vector = {index: value for index, value in zip(indices, values)}
+    return sparse_vector
+
 entities = [
     rng.random(num_entities).tolist(),
-    matrix_csr,
+    [generate_sparse_vector(dim, nnz) for _ in range(num_entities)],
 ]
 
 log(fmt.format("Start inserting entities"))
diff --git a/pymilvus/client/abstract.py b/pymilvus/client/abstract.py
index 1f0f5c2b5..6e78963fc 100644
--- a/pymilvus/client/abstract.py
+++ b/pymilvus/client/abstract.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 from pymilvus.grpc_gen import schema_pb2
 from pymilvus.settings import Config
 
-from . import entity_helper
+from . import entity_helper, utils
 from .constants import DEFAULT_CONSISTENCY_LEVEL, RANKER_TYPE_RRF, RANKER_TYPE_WEIGHTED
 from .types import DataType
 
@@ -327,7 +327,7 @@ def dict(self):
 class AnnSearchRequest:
     def __init__(
         self,
-        data: Union[List, entity_helper.SparseMatrixInputType],
+        data: Union[List, utils.SparseMatrixInputType],
         anns_field: str,
         param: Dict,
         limit: int,
diff --git a/pymilvus/client/entity_helper.py b/pymilvus/client/entity_helper.py
index 4d493e445..a946d52b6 100644
--- a/pymilvus/client/entity_helper.py
+++ b/pymilvus/client/entity_helper.py
@@ -1,10 +1,9 @@
 import math
 import struct
-from typing import Any, Dict, Iterable, List, Optional, Tuple, Union
+from typing import Any, Dict, Iterable, List, Optional
 
 import numpy as np
 import ujson
-from scipy import sparse
 
 from pymilvus.exceptions import (
     DataNotMatchException,
@@ -16,67 +15,13 @@
 from pymilvus.settings import Config
 
 from .types import DataType
+from .utils import SciPyHelper, SparseMatrixInputType, SparseRowOutputType
 
 CHECK_STR_ARRAY = True
 
-# in search results, if output fields includes a sparse float vector field, we
-# will return a SparseRowOutputType for each entity. Using Dict for readability.
-# TODO(SPARSE): to allow the user to specify output format.
-SparseRowOutputType = Dict[int, float]
-
-# we accept the following types as input for sparse matrix in user facing APIs
-# such as insert, search, etc.:
-# - scipy sparse array/matrix family: csr, csc, coo, bsr, dia, dok, lil
-# - iterable of iterables, each element(iterable) is a sparse vector with index
-#   as key and value as float.
-#   dict example: [{2: 0.33, 98: 0.72, ...}, {4: 0.45, 198: 0.52, ...}, ...]
-#   list of tuple example: [[(2, 0.33), (98, 0.72), ...], [(4, 0.45), ...], ...]
-#   both index/value can be str numbers: {'2': '3.1'}
-SparseMatrixInputType = Union[
-    Iterable[
-        Union[
-            SparseRowOutputType,
-            Iterable[Tuple[int, float]],  # only type hint, we accept int/float like types
-        ]
-    ],
-    sparse.csc_array,
-    sparse.coo_array,
-    sparse.bsr_array,
-    sparse.dia_array,
-    sparse.dok_array,
-    sparse.lil_array,
-    sparse.csr_array,
-    sparse.spmatrix,
-]
-
-
-def sparse_is_scipy_matrix(data: Any):
-    return isinstance(data, sparse.spmatrix)
-
-
-def sparse_is_scipy_array(data: Any):
-    # sparse.sparray, the common superclass of sparse.*_array, is introduced in
-    # scipy 1.11.0, which requires python 3.9, higher than pymilvus's current requirement.
-    return isinstance(
-        data,
-        (
-            sparse.bsr_array,
-            sparse.coo_array,
-            sparse.csc_array,
-            sparse.csr_array,
-            sparse.dia_array,
-            sparse.dok_array,
-            sparse.lil_array,
-        ),
-    )
-
-
-def sparse_is_scipy_format(data: Any):
-    return sparse_is_scipy_matrix(data) or sparse_is_scipy_array(data)
-
 
 def entity_is_sparse_matrix(entity: Any):
-    if sparse_is_scipy_format(entity):
+    if SciPyHelper.is_scipy_sparse(entity):
         return True
     try:
 
@@ -143,34 +88,30 @@ def sparse_float_row_to_bytes(indices: Iterable[int], values: Iterable[float]):
             data += struct.pack("f", v)
         return data
 
-    def unify_sparse_input(data: SparseMatrixInputType) -> sparse.csr_array:
-        if isinstance(data, sparse.csr_array):
-            return data
-        if sparse_is_scipy_array(data):
-            return data.tocsr()
-        if sparse_is_scipy_matrix(data):
-            return sparse.csr_array(data.tocsr())
-        row_indices = []
-        col_indices = []
-        values = []
-        for row_id, row_data in enumerate(data):
-            row = row_data.items() if isinstance(row_data, dict) else row_data
-            row_indices.extend([row_id] * len(row))
-            col_indices.extend(
-                [int(col_id) if isinstance(col_id, str) else col_id for col_id, _ in row]
-            )
-            values.extend([float(value) if isinstance(value, str) else value for _, value in row])
-        return sparse.csr_array((values, (row_indices, col_indices)))
-
     if not entity_is_sparse_matrix(data):
         raise ParamError(message="input must be a sparse matrix in supported format")
-    csr = unify_sparse_input(data)
+
     result = schema_types.SparseFloatArray()
-    result.dim = csr.shape[1]
-    for start, end in zip(csr.indptr[:-1], csr.indptr[1:]):
-        result.contents.append(
-            sparse_float_row_to_bytes(csr.indices[start:end], csr.data[start:end])
-        )
+
+    if SciPyHelper.is_scipy_sparse(data):
+        csr = data.tocsr()
+        result.dim = csr.shape[1]
+        for start, end in zip(csr.indptr[:-1], csr.indptr[1:]):
+            result.contents.append(
+                sparse_float_row_to_bytes(csr.indices[start:end], csr.data[start:end])
+            )
+    else:
+        dim = 0
+        for _, row_data in enumerate(data):
+            indices = []
+            values = []
+            row = row_data.items() if isinstance(row_data, dict) else row_data
+            for index, value in row:
+                indices.append(index)
+                values.append(value)
+            result.contents.append(sparse_float_row_to_bytes(indices, values))
+            dim = max(dim, indices[-1] + 1)
+        result.dim = dim
     return result
 
 
@@ -186,7 +127,7 @@ def sparse_proto_to_rows(
 
 
 def get_input_num_rows(entity: Any) -> int:
-    if sparse_is_scipy_format(entity):
+    if SciPyHelper.is_scipy_sparse(entity):
         return entity.shape[0]
     return len(entity)
 
@@ -354,7 +295,7 @@ def pack_field_value_to_field_data(
         field_data.vectors.bfloat16_vector += v_bytes
     elif field_type == DataType.SPARSE_FLOAT_VECTOR:
         # field_value is a single row of sparse float vector in user provided format
-        if not sparse_is_scipy_format(field_value):
+        if not SciPyHelper.is_scipy_sparse(field_value):
             field_value = [field_value]
         elif field_value.shape[0] != 1:
             raise ParamError(message="invalid input for sparse float vector: expect 1 row")
diff --git a/pymilvus/client/grpc_handler.py b/pymilvus/client/grpc_handler.py
index 7d37aedde..49e86a4ef 100644
--- a/pymilvus/client/grpc_handler.py
+++ b/pymilvus/client/grpc_handler.py
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 from pymilvus.grpc_gen import milvus_pb2 as milvus_types
 from pymilvus.settings import Config
 
-from . import entity_helper, interceptor, ts_utils
+from . import entity_helper, interceptor, ts_utils, utils
 from .abstract import AnnSearchRequest, BaseRanker, CollectionSchema, MutationResult, SearchResult
 from .asynch import (
     CreateIndexFuture,
@@ -761,7 +761,7 @@ def _execute_hybrid_search(
     def search(
         self,
         collection_name: str,
-        data: Union[List[List[float]], entity_helper.SparseMatrixInputType],
+        data: Union[List[List[float]], utils.SparseMatrixInputType],
         anns_field: str,
         param: Dict,
         limit: int,
diff --git a/pymilvus/client/prepare.py b/pymilvus/client/prepare.py
index a756a1dc7..df14161e6 100644
--- a/pymilvus/client/prepare.py
+++ b/pymilvus/client/prepare.py
@@ -4,14 +4,13 @@
 
 import numpy as np
 
-from pymilvus.client import __version__, entity_helper
 from pymilvus.exceptions import DataNotMatchException, ExceptionsMessage, ParamError
 from pymilvus.grpc_gen import common_pb2 as common_types
 from pymilvus.grpc_gen import milvus_pb2 as milvus_types
 from pymilvus.grpc_gen import schema_pb2 as schema_types
 from pymilvus.orm.schema import CollectionSchema
 
-from . import blob, ts_utils, utils
+from . import __version__, blob, entity_helper, ts_utils, utils
 from .check import check_pass_param, is_legal_collection_properties
 from .constants import (
     DEFAULT_CONSISTENCY_LEVEL,
@@ -626,7 +625,7 @@ def _prepare_placeholder_str(cls, data: Any):
     def search_requests_with_expr(
         cls,
         collection_name: str,
-        data: Union[List, entity_helper.SparseMatrixInputType],
+        data: Union[List, utils.SparseMatrixInputType],
         anns_field: str,
         param: Dict,
         limit: int,
diff --git a/pymilvus/client/utils.py b/pymilvus/client/utils.py
index 7ecc35670..4168fde9c 100644
--- a/pymilvus/client/utils.py
+++ b/pymilvus/client/utils.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import datetime
+import importlib.util
 from datetime import timedelta
-from typing import Any, List, Optional, Union
+from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any, Dict, Iterable, List, Optional, Tuple, Union
 
 import ujson
 
@@ -270,3 +271,100 @@ def get_server_type(host: str):
 
 def dumps(v: Union[dict, str]) -> str:
     return ujson.dumps(v) if isinstance(v, dict) else str(v)
+
+
+class SciPyHelper:
+    _checked = False
+
+    # whether scipy.sparse.*_matrix classes exists
+    _matrix_available = False
+    # whether scipy.sparse.*_array classes exists
+    _array_available = False
+
+    @classmethod
+    def _init(cls):
+        if cls._checked:
+            return
+        scipy_spec = importlib.util.find_spec("scipy")
+        if scipy_spec is not None:
+            # when scipy is not installed, find_spec("scipy.sparse") directly
+            # throws exception instead of returning None.
+            sparse_spec = importlib.util.find_spec("scipy.sparse")
+            if sparse_spec is not None:
+                scipy_sparse = importlib.util.module_from_spec(sparse_spec)
+                sparse_spec.loader.exec_module(scipy_sparse)
+                # all scipy.sparse.*_matrix classes are introduced in the same scipy
+                # version, so we only need to check one of them.
+                cls._matrix_available = hasattr(scipy_sparse, "csr_matrix")
+                # all scipy.sparse.*_array classes are introduced in the same scipy
+                # version, so we only need to check one of them.
+                cls._array_available = hasattr(scipy_sparse, "csr_array")
+
+        cls._checked = True
+
+    @classmethod
+    def is_spmatrix(cls, data: Any):
+        cls._init()
+        if not cls._matrix_available:
+            return False
+        from scipy.sparse import isspmatrix
+
+        return isspmatrix(data)
+
+    @classmethod
+    def is_sparray(cls, data: Any):
+        cls._init()
+        if not cls._array_available:
+            return False
+        from scipy.sparse import issparse, isspmatrix
+
+        return issparse(data) and not isspmatrix(data)
+
+    @classmethod
+    def is_scipy_sparse(cls, data: Any):
+        return cls.is_spmatrix(data) or cls.is_sparray(data)
+
+
+# in search results, if output fields includes a sparse float vector field, we
+# will return a SparseRowOutputType for each entity. Using Dict for readability.
+# TODO(SPARSE): to allow the user to specify output format.
+SparseRowOutputType = Dict[int, float]
+
+
+# this import will be called only during static type checking
+if TYPE_CHECKING:
+    from scipy.sparse import (
+        bsr_array,
+        coo_array,
+        csc_array,
+        csr_array,
+        dia_array,
+        dok_array,
+        lil_array,
+        spmatrix,
+    )
+
+# we accept the following types as input for sparse matrix in user facing APIs
+# such as insert, search, etc.:
+# - scipy sparse array/matrix family: csr, csc, coo, bsr, dia, dok, lil
+# - iterable of iterables, each element(iterable) is a sparse vector with index
+#   as key and value as float.
+#   dict example: [{2: 0.33, 98: 0.72, ...}, {4: 0.45, 198: 0.52, ...}, ...]
+#   list of tuple example: [[(2, 0.33), (98, 0.72), ...], [(4, 0.45), ...], ...]
+#   both index/value can be str numbers: {'2': '3.1'}
+SparseMatrixInputType = Union[
+    Iterable[
+        Union[
+            SparseRowOutputType,
+            Iterable[Tuple[int, float]],  # only type hint, we accept int/float like types
+        ]
+    ],
+    "csc_array",
+    "coo_array",
+    "bsr_array",
+    "dia_array",
+    "dok_array",
+    "lil_array",
+    "csr_array",
+    "spmatrix",
+]
diff --git a/pymilvus/orm/collection.py b/pymilvus/orm/collection.py
index 299642c2e..6926c5d8d 100644
--- a/pymilvus/orm/collection.py
+++ b/pymilvus/orm/collection.py
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 
 import pandas as pd
 
-from pymilvus.client import entity_helper
+from pymilvus.client import entity_helper, utils
 from pymilvus.client.abstract import BaseRanker, SearchResult
 from pymilvus.client.constants import DEFAULT_CONSISTENCY_LEVEL
 from pymilvus.client.types import (
@@ -454,7 +454,7 @@ def release(self, timeout: Optional[float] = None, **kwargs):
 
     def insert(
         self,
-        data: Union[List, pd.DataFrame, Dict, entity_helper.SparseMatrixInputType],
+        data: Union[List, pd.DataFrame, Dict, utils.SparseMatrixInputType],
         partition_name: Optional[str] = None,
         timeout: Optional[float] = None,
         **kwargs,
@@ -581,7 +581,7 @@ def delete(
 
     def upsert(
         self,
-        data: Union[List, pd.DataFrame, Dict, entity_helper.SparseMatrixInputType],
+        data: Union[List, pd.DataFrame, Dict, utils.SparseMatrixInputType],
         partition_name: Optional[str] = None,
         timeout: Optional[float] = None,
         **kwargs,
@@ -655,7 +655,7 @@ def upsert(
 
     def search(
         self,
-        data: Union[List, entity_helper.SparseMatrixInputType],
+        data: Union[List, utils.SparseMatrixInputType],
         anns_field: str,
         param: Dict,
         limit: int,
@@ -790,7 +790,7 @@ def search(
         if expr is not None and not isinstance(expr, str):
             raise DataTypeNotMatchException(message=ExceptionsMessage.ExprType % type(expr))
 
-        empty_scipy_sparse = entity_helper.sparse_is_scipy_format(data) and (data.shape[0] == 0)
+        empty_scipy_sparse = utils.SciPyHelper.is_scipy_sparse(data) and (data.shape[0] == 0)
         if (isinstance(data, list) and len(data) == 0) or empty_scipy_sparse:
             resp = SearchResult(schema_pb2.SearchResultData())
             return SearchFuture(None) if kwargs.get("_async", False) else resp
@@ -957,7 +957,7 @@ def hybrid_search(
 
     def search_iterator(
         self,
-        data: Union[List, entity_helper.SparseMatrixInputType],
+        data: Union[List, utils.SparseMatrixInputType],
         anns_field: str,
         param: Dict,
         batch_size: Optional[int] = 1000,
diff --git a/pymilvus/orm/iterator.py b/pymilvus/orm/iterator.py
index ea25bf5f5..687601624 100644
--- a/pymilvus/orm/iterator.py
+++ b/pymilvus/orm/iterator.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 from copy import deepcopy
 from typing import Any, Dict, List, Optional, TypeVar, Union
 
-from pymilvus.client import entity_helper
+from pymilvus.client import entity_helper, utils
 from pymilvus.client.abstract import Hits, LoopBase
 from pymilvus.exceptions import (
     MilvusException,
@@ -283,7 +283,7 @@ def __init__(
         self,
         connection: Connections,
         collection_name: str,
-        data: Union[List, entity_helper.SparseMatrixInputType],
+        data: Union[List, utils.SparseMatrixInputType],
         ann_field: str,
         param: Dict,
         batch_size: Optional[int] = 1000,
diff --git a/pymilvus/orm/partition.py b/pymilvus/orm/partition.py
index 3b678c2d9..8b61f17bd 100644
--- a/pymilvus/orm/partition.py
+++ b/pymilvus/orm/partition.py
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 import pandas as pd
 import ujson
 
-from pymilvus.client import entity_helper
+from pymilvus.client import utils
 from pymilvus.client.abstract import BaseRanker, SearchResult
 from pymilvus.client.types import Replica
 from pymilvus.exceptions import MilvusException
@@ -239,7 +239,7 @@ def release(self, timeout: Optional[float] = None, **kwargs):
 
     def insert(
         self,
-        data: Union[List, pd.DataFrame, entity_helper.SparseMatrixInputType],
+        data: Union[List, pd.DataFrame, utils.SparseMatrixInputType],
         timeout: Optional[float] = None,
         **kwargs,
     ) -> MutationResult:
@@ -317,7 +317,7 @@ def delete(self, expr: str, timeout: Optional[float] = None, **kwargs):
 
     def upsert(
         self,
-        data: Union[List, pd.DataFrame, entity_helper.SparseMatrixInputType],
+        data: Union[List, pd.DataFrame, utils.SparseMatrixInputType],
         timeout: Optional[float] = None,
         **kwargs,
     ) -> MutationResult:
@@ -357,7 +357,7 @@ def upsert(
 
     def search(
         self,
-        data: Union[List, entity_helper.SparseMatrixInputType],
+        data: Union[List, utils.SparseMatrixInputType],
         anns_field: str,
         param: Dict,
         limit: int,
diff --git a/pymilvus/orm/prepare.py b/pymilvus/orm/prepare.py
index 799fcad04..9145add64 100644
--- a/pymilvus/orm/prepare.py
+++ b/pymilvus/orm/prepare.py
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 import numpy as np
 import pandas as pd
 
-from pymilvus.client import entity_helper
+from pymilvus.client import utils
 from pymilvus.client.types import DataType
 from pymilvus.exceptions import (
     DataNotMatchException,
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ def prepare_insert_data(
     @classmethod
     def prepare_upsert_data(
         cls,
-        data: Union[List, Tuple, pd.DataFrame, entity_helper.SparseMatrixInputType],
+        data: Union[List, Tuple, pd.DataFrame, utils.SparseMatrixInputType],
         schema: CollectionSchema,
     ) -> List:
         if schema.auto_id:
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 95ddfb1b4..f3823ae83 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@ dependencies=[
     "minio>=7.0.0",
     "pyarrow>=12.0.0",
     "azure-storage-blob",
-    "scipy",
     "milvus_lite>=2.4.0,<2.5.0",
 ]
 
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 3e22ece82..4015bf4e4 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -15,7 +15,6 @@ toml==0.10.2
 ujson>=2.0.0
 urllib3==1.26.18
 m2r==0.3.1
-scipy>=1.9.3
 Sphinx==4.0.0
 sphinx-copybutton
 sphinx-rtd-theme