diff --git a/ci/build_wheel.sh b/ci/build_wheel.sh
index 54be0ff1..fc8edc48 100755
--- a/ci/build_wheel.sh
+++ b/ci/build_wheel.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #!/bin/bash
-# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2023-2025, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2023-2026, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 
 set -euo pipefail
@@ -13,7 +13,19 @@ rapids-generate-version > ./VERSION
 
 cd "${package_dir}"
 
-rapids-pip-retry wheel . -w "${RAPIDS_WHEEL_BLD_OUTPUT_DIR}" -v --no-deps --disable-pip-version-check
+RAPIDS_PIP_WHEEL_ARGS=(
+  -w "${RAPIDS_WHEEL_BLD_OUTPUT_DIR}"
+  -v
+  --no-deps
+  --disable-pip-version-check
+)
+
+# unset PIP_CONSTRAINT (set by rapids-init-pip)... it doesn't affect builds as of pip 25.3, and
+# results in an error from 'pip wheel' when set and --build-constraint is also passed
+unset PIP_CONSTRAINT
+rapids-pip-retry wheel \
+    "${RAPIDS_PIP_WHEEL_ARGS[@]}" \
+    .
 
 # Pure wheels can be installed on any OS and we want to avoid users being able
 # to begin installing them on Windows or OSX when we know that the dependencies