diff --git a/.buildkite/release-pipeline.yaml b/.buildkite/release-pipeline.yaml
index 6314afd652340..90ff2ecd7282d 100644
--- a/.buildkite/release-pipeline.yaml
+++ b/.buildkite/release-pipeline.yaml
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ steps:
       queue: cpu_queue_postmerge
     commands:
       - "aws ecr-public get-login-password --region us-east-1 | docker login --username AWS --password-stdin public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7"
-      - "DOCKER_BUILDKIT=1 docker build --build-arg max_jobs=16 --build-arg USE_SCCACHE=1 --build-arg GIT_REPO_CHECK=1 --build-arg CUDA_VERSION=12.8.1 --build-arg INSTALL_KV_CONNECTORS=true --tag public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:$BUILDKITE_COMMIT --target vllm-openai --progress plain -f docker/Dockerfile ."
+      - "DOCKER_BUILDKIT=1 docker build --build-arg max_jobs=16 --build-arg USE_SCCACHE=1 --build-arg GIT_REPO_CHECK=1 --build-arg CUDA_VERSION=12.8.1 --build-arg INSTALL_KV_CONNECTORS=false --tag public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:$BUILDKITE_COMMIT --target vllm-openai --progress plain -f docker/Dockerfile ."
       - "docker push public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:$BUILDKITE_COMMIT"
 
   - label: "Annotate release workflow"