diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-pypi-nightly.yml b/.github/workflows/release-pypi-nightly.yml
index 3ce927df4d13..ff8d031aa9f7 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-pypi-nightly.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-pypi-nightly.yml
@@ -48,6 +48,11 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           pip install build wheel setuptools setuptools-scm
 
+      # Needed by setuptools-rust to build the bundled native gRPC extension
+      # (rust/sglang-grpc) when `python -m build` builds the sglang wheel.
+      - name: Install protoc
+        run: sudo bash scripts/ci/utils/install_protoc.sh
+
       - name: Build wheel
         id: build
         run: |