diff --git a/deepspeed/inference/engine.py b/deepspeed/inference/engine.py
index 54f2d6bb4390..b22325d1d0e4 100755
--- a/deepspeed/inference/engine.py
+++ b/deepspeed/inference/engine.py
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ def __init__(self, model, config):
                 self._apply_injection_policy(config, client_module)
         elif config.replace_method == 'auto':
             self._apply_injection_policy(config)
-        else:
+        elif not config.replace_with_kernel_inject:
             # Automatic Tensor Parallelism
             parser_dict = AutoTP.tp_parser(model)
             for client_module, injection_policy in parser_dict: