diff --git a/vllm/v1/engine/async_llm.py b/vllm/v1/engine/async_llm.py
index 720e800f02d56..ba2d5345d674a 100644
--- a/vllm/v1/engine/async_llm.py
+++ b/vllm/v1/engine/async_llm.py
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ def __init__(
                                        stream_mode=True)
 
         # EngineCore (starts the engine in background process).
-        self.engine_core = EngineCoreClient(
+        self.engine_core = EngineCoreClient.make_client(
             vllm_config=vllm_config,
             executor_class=executor_class,
             usage_context=usage_context,