diff --git a/.buildkite/release-pipeline.yaml b/.buildkite/release-pipeline.yaml
index a9d51557bd9b..b0366cf0f63a 100644
--- a/.buildkite/release-pipeline.yaml
+++ b/.buildkite/release-pipeline.yaml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 steps:
   # aarch64 + CUDA builds
-  - label: "Build arm64 wheel - CUDA 12.9"
+  - label: "Build wheel - aarch64 - CUDA 12.9"
     depends_on: ~
     id: build-wheel-arm64-cuda-12-9
     agents:
@@ -11,11 +11,11 @@ steps:
       - "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=12.9.1 --build-arg torch_cuda_arch_list='8.7 8.9 9.0 10.0+PTX 12.0' --tag vllm-ci:build-image --target build --progress plain -f docker/Dockerfile ."
       - "mkdir artifacts"
       - "docker run --rm -v $(pwd)/artifacts:/artifacts_host vllm-ci:build-image bash -c 'cp -r dist /artifacts_host && chmod -R a+rw /artifacts_host'"
-      - "bash .buildkite/scripts/upload-wheels.sh"
+      - "bash .buildkite/scripts/upload-nightly-wheels.sh"
     env:
       DOCKER_BUILDKIT: "1"
 
-  - label: "Build arm64 wheel - CUDA 13.0"
+  - label: "Build wheel - aarch64 - CUDA 13.0"
     depends_on: ~
     id: build-wheel-arm64-cuda-13-0
     agents:
@@ -26,12 +26,12 @@ steps:
       - "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=13.0.1 --build-arg torch_cuda_arch_list='8.7 8.9 9.0 10.0+PTX 12.0' --build-arg BUILD_BASE_IMAGE=nvidia/cuda:13.0.1-devel-ubuntu22.04  --tag vllm-ci:build-image --target build --progress plain -f docker/Dockerfile ."
       - "mkdir artifacts"
       - "docker run --rm -v $(pwd)/artifacts:/artifacts_host vllm-ci:build-image bash -c 'cp -r dist /artifacts_host && chmod -R a+rw /artifacts_host'"
-      - "bash .buildkite/scripts/upload-wheels.sh manylinux_2_35"
+      - "bash .buildkite/scripts/upload-nightly-wheels.sh manylinux_2_35"
     env:
       DOCKER_BUILDKIT: "1"
 
   # aarch64 build
-  - label: "Build arm64 CPU wheel"
+  - label: "Build wheel - aarch64 - CPU"
     depends_on: ~
     id: build-wheel-arm64-cpu
     agents:
@@ -40,39 +40,39 @@ steps:
       - "DOCKER_BUILDKIT=1 docker build --build-arg max_jobs=16 --build-arg GIT_REPO_CHECK=1 --build-arg VLLM_BUILD_ACL=ON --tag vllm-ci:build-image --target vllm-build --progress plain -f docker/Dockerfile.cpu ."
       - "mkdir artifacts"
       - "docker run --rm -v $(pwd)/artifacts:/artifacts_host vllm-ci:build-image bash -c 'cp -r dist /artifacts_host && chmod -R a+rw /artifacts_host'"
-      - "bash .buildkite/scripts/upload-wheels.sh manylinux_2_35"
+      - "bash .buildkite/scripts/upload-nightly-wheels.sh manylinux_2_35"
     env:
       DOCKER_BUILDKIT: "1"
 
   # x86 + CUDA builds
-  - label: "Build wheel - CUDA 12.9"
+  - label: "Build wheel - x86_64 - CUDA 12.9"
     depends_on: ~
-    id: build-wheel-cuda-12-9
+    id: build-wheel-x86-cuda-12-9
     agents:
       queue: cpu_queue_postmerge
     commands:
       - "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=12.9.1 --tag vllm-ci:build-image --target build --progress plain -f docker/Dockerfile ."
       - "mkdir artifacts"
       - "docker run --rm -v $(pwd)/artifacts:/artifacts_host vllm-ci:build-image bash -c 'cp -r dist /artifacts_host && chmod -R a+rw /artifacts_host'"
-      - "bash .buildkite/scripts/upload-wheels.sh manylinux_2_31"
+      - "bash .buildkite/scripts/upload-nightly-wheels.sh manylinux_2_31"
     env:
       DOCKER_BUILDKIT: "1"
 
-  - label: "Build wheel - CUDA 13.0"
+  - label: "Build wheel - x86_64 - CUDA 13.0"
     depends_on: ~
-    id: build-wheel-cuda-13-0
+    id: build-wheel-x86-cuda-13-0
     agents:
       queue: cpu_queue_postmerge
     commands:
       - "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=13.0.1 --build-arg BUILD_BASE_IMAGE=nvidia/cuda:13.0.1-devel-ubuntu22.04 --tag vllm-ci:build-image --target build --progress plain -f docker/Dockerfile ."
       - "mkdir artifacts"
       - "docker run --rm -v $(pwd)/artifacts:/artifacts_host vllm-ci:build-image bash -c 'cp -r dist /artifacts_host && chmod -R a+rw /artifacts_host'"
-      - "bash .buildkite/scripts/upload-wheels.sh manylinux_2_35"
+      - "bash .buildkite/scripts/upload-nightly-wheels.sh manylinux_2_35"
     env:
       DOCKER_BUILDKIT: "1"
 
   # x86 CPU wheel build
-  - label: "Build x86 CPU wheel"
+  - label: "Build wheel - x86_64 - CPU"
     depends_on: ~
     id: build-wheel-x86-cpu
     agents:
@@ -81,12 +81,12 @@ steps:
       - "DOCKER_BUILDKIT=1 docker build --build-arg max_jobs=16 --build-arg GIT_REPO_CHECK=1 --build-arg VLLM_CPU_AVX512BF16=true --build-arg VLLM_CPU_AVX512VNNI=true --build-arg VLLM_CPU_AMXBF16=true --tag vllm-ci:build-image --target vllm-build --progress plain -f docker/Dockerfile.cpu ."
       - "mkdir artifacts"
       - "docker run --rm -v $(pwd)/artifacts:/artifacts_host vllm-ci:build-image bash -c 'cp -r dist /artifacts_host && chmod -R a+rw /artifacts_host'"
-      - "bash .buildkite/scripts/upload-wheels.sh manylinux_2_35"
+      - "bash .buildkite/scripts/upload-nightly-wheels.sh manylinux_2_35"
     env:
       DOCKER_BUILDKIT: "1"
 
-  # Build release images (12.9)
-  - label: "Build release image (x86)"
+  # Build release images (CUDA 12.9)
+  - label: "Build release image - x86_64 - CUDA 12.9"
     depends_on: ~
     id: build-release-image-x86
     agents:
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ steps:
       - "docker tag public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:$BUILDKITE_COMMIT-$(uname -m) public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:$BUILDKITE_COMMIT"
       - "docker push public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:$BUILDKITE_COMMIT"
 
-  - label: "Build release image (arm64)"
+  - label: "Build release image - aarch64 - CUDA 12.9"
     depends_on: ~
     id: build-release-image-arm64
     agents:
@@ -109,34 +109,92 @@ steps:
       - "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=12.9.1 --build-arg FLASHINFER_AOT_COMPILE=true --build-arg torch_cuda_arch_list='8.7 8.9 9.0 10.0+PTX 12.0' --build-arg INSTALL_KV_CONNECTORS=true --tag public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:$BUILDKITE_COMMIT-$(uname -m) --target vllm-openai --progress plain -f docker/Dockerfile ."
       - "docker push public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:$BUILDKITE_COMMIT-$(uname -m)"
 
-  # Add job to create multi-arch manifest
-  - label: "Create multi-arch manifest"
+  - label: "Create multi-arch manifest - CUDA 12.9"
     depends_on:
       - build-release-image-x86
       - build-release-image-arm64
     id: create-multi-arch-manifest
     agents:
-      queue: cpu_queue_postmerge
+      queue: small_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 manifest create public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:$BUILDKITE_COMMIT public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:$BUILDKITE_COMMIT-x86_64 public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:$BUILDKITE_COMMIT-aarch64 --amend"
       - "docker manifest push public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:$BUILDKITE_COMMIT"
 
-  - label: "Annotate release workflow"
+  - label: "Annotate release workflow - CUDA 12.9"
     depends_on:
       - create-multi-arch-manifest
     id: annotate-release-workflow
     agents:
-      queue: cpu_queue_postmerge
+      queue: small_cpu_queue_postmerge
     commands:
       - "bash .buildkite/scripts/annotate-release.sh"
 
+  - block: "Build CUDA 13.0 release images"
+    key: block-release-image-build-cuda-13-0
+    depends_on: ~
+
+  - label: "Build release image - x86_64 - CUDA 13.0"
+    depends_on: block-release-image-build-cuda-13-0
+    id: build-release-image-x86-cuda-13-0
+    agents:
+      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=13.0.2 --build-arg FLASHINFER_AOT_COMPILE=true --build-arg INSTALL_KV_CONNECTORS=true --build-arg BUILD_BASE_IMAGE=nvidia/cuda:13.0.2-devel-ubuntu22.04 --tag public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:$BUILDKITE_COMMIT-$(uname -m)-cu130 --target vllm-openai --progress plain -f docker/Dockerfile ."
+      - "docker push public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:$BUILDKITE_COMMIT-$(uname -m)-cu130"
+      # re-tag to default image tag and push, just in case arm64 build fails
+      - "docker tag public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:$BUILDKITE_COMMIT-$(uname -m)-cu130 public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:$BUILDKITE_COMMIT-cu130"
+      - "docker push public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:$BUILDKITE_COMMIT-cu130"
+
+  - label: "Build release image - aarch64 - CUDA 13.0"
+    depends_on: block-release-image-build-cuda-13-0
+    id: build-release-image-arm64-cuda-13-0
+    agents:
+      queue: arm64_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=13.0.2 --build-arg FLASHINFER_AOT_COMPILE=true --build-arg torch_cuda_arch_list='8.7 8.9 9.0 10.0+PTX 12.0' --build-arg INSTALL_KV_CONNECTORS=true --build-arg BUILD_BASE_IMAGE=nvidia/cuda:13.0.2-devel-ubuntu22.04 --tag public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:$BUILDKITE_COMMIT-$(uname -m)-cu130 --target vllm-openai --progress plain -f docker/Dockerfile ."
+      - "docker push public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:$BUILDKITE_COMMIT-$(uname -m)-cu130"
+
+  - label: "Create multi-arch manifest - CUDA 13.0"
+    depends_on:
+      - build-release-image-x86-cuda-13-0
+      - build-release-image-arm64-cuda-13-0
+    id: create-multi-arch-manifest-cuda-13-0
+    agents:
+      queue: small_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 manifest create public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:$BUILDKITE_COMMIT-cu130 public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:$BUILDKITE_COMMIT-x86_64-cu130 public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:$BUILDKITE_COMMIT-aarch64-cu130 --amend"
+      - "docker manifest push public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:$BUILDKITE_COMMIT-cu130"
+
   - input: "Provide Release version here"
     id: input-release-version
     fields:
       - text: "What is the release version?"
         key: release-version
 
+  - block: "Confirm update release wheels to PyPI (experimental, use with caution)?"
+    key: block-upload-release-wheels
+    depends_on:
+      - input-release-version
+      - build-wheel-x86-cuda-12-9
+      - build-wheel-x86-cuda-13-0
+      - build-wheel-x86-cpu
+      - build-wheel-arm64-cuda-12-9
+      - build-wheel-arm64-cuda-13-0
+      - build-wheel-arm64-cpu
+
+  - label: "Upload release wheels to PyPI and GitHub"
+    depends_on:
+      - block-upload-release-wheels
+    id: upload-release-wheels
+    agents:
+      queue: small_cpu_queue_postmerge
+    commands:
+      - "bash .buildkite/scripts/upload-release-wheels.sh"
+
   - block: "Build CPU release image"
     key: block-cpu-release-image-build
     depends_on: ~
@@ -174,7 +232,7 @@ steps:
       - create-multi-arch-manifest
     if: build.env("NIGHTLY") == "1"
     agents:
-      queue: cpu_queue_postmerge
+      queue: small_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 pull public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:$BUILDKITE_COMMIT-x86_64"
diff --git a/.buildkite/scripts/upload-wheels.sh b/.buildkite/scripts/upload-nightly-wheels.sh
similarity index 100%
rename from .buildkite/scripts/upload-wheels.sh
rename to .buildkite/scripts/upload-nightly-wheels.sh
diff --git a/.buildkite/scripts/upload-release-wheels.sh b/.buildkite/scripts/upload-release-wheels.sh
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..a4b246bf1b85
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.buildkite/scripts/upload-release-wheels.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,103 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+set -e
+
+BUCKET="vllm-wheels"
+SUBPATH=$BUILDKITE_COMMIT
+S3_COMMIT_PREFIX="s3://$BUCKET/$SUBPATH/"
+
+RELEASE_VERSION=$(buildkite-agent meta-data get release-version)
+echo "Release version from Buildkite: $RELEASE_VERSION"
+GIT_VERSION=$(git describe --exact-match --tags $BUILDKITE_COMMIT 2>/dev/null)
+if [ -z "$GIT_VERSION" ]; then
+    echo "[FATAL] Not on a git tag, cannot create release."
+    exit 1
+else
+    echo "Git version for commit $BUILDKITE_COMMIT: $GIT_VERSION"
+fi
+# sanity check for version mismatch
+if [ "v$RELEASE_VERSION" != "$GIT_VERSION" ]; then
+  if [ "$FORCE_RELEASE_IGNORE_VERSION_MISMATCH" == "true" ]; then
+    echo "[WARNING] Force release and ignore version mismatch"
+  else
+    echo "[FATAL] Release version from Buildkite does not match Git version."
+    exit 1
+  fi
+fi
+
+# check pypi token
+if [ -z "$PYPI_TOKEN" ]; then
+  echo "[FATAL] PYPI_TOKEN is not set."
+  exit 1
+else
+  export TWINE_USERNAME="__token__"
+  export TWINE_PASSWORD="$PYPI_TOKEN"
+fi
+
+# check github token
+if [ -z "$GITHUB_TOKEN" ]; then
+  echo "[FATAL] GITHUB_TOKEN is not set."
+  exit 1
+else
+  export GH_TOKEN="$GITHUB_TOKEN"
+fi
+
+set -x # avoid printing secrets above
+
+# download gh CLI from github
+# Get latest gh CLI version from GitHub API
+GH_VERSION=$(curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/cli/cli/releases/latest | grep '"tag_name":' | sed -E 's/.*"([^"]+)".*/\1/' | sed 's/^v//')
+if [ -z "$GH_VERSION" ]; then
+  echo "[FATAL] Failed to get latest gh CLI version from GitHub"
+  exit 1
+fi
+echo "Downloading gh CLI version: $GH_VERSION"
+GH_TARBALL="gh_${GH_VERSION}_linux_amd64.tar.gz"
+GH_URL="https://github.com/cli/cli/releases/download/v${GH_VERSION}/${GH_TARBALL}"
+GH_INSTALL_DIR="/tmp/gh-install"
+mkdir -p "$GH_INSTALL_DIR"
+pushd "$GH_INSTALL_DIR"
+curl -L -o "$GH_TARBALL" "$GH_URL"
+tar -xzf "$GH_TARBALL"
+GH_BIN=$(realpath $(find . -name "gh" -type f -executable | head -n 1))
+if [ -z "$GH_BIN" ]; then
+  echo "[FATAL] Failed to find gh CLI executable"
+  exit 1
+fi
+echo "gh CLI downloaded successfully, version: $($GH_BIN --version)"
+echo "Last 5 releases on GitHub:" # as a sanity check of gh and GH_TOKEN
+command "$GH_BIN" release list --limit 5
+popd
+
+# install twine from pypi
+python3 -m venv /tmp/vllm-release-env
+source /tmp/vllm-release-env/bin/activate
+pip install twine
+python3 -m twine --version
+
+# copy release wheels to local directory
+DIST_DIR=/tmp/vllm-release-dist
+echo "Existing wheels on S3:"
+aws s3 ls "$S3_COMMIT_PREFIX"
+echo "Copying wheels to local directory"
+mkdir -p $DIST_DIR
+# include only wheels for the release version, ignore all files with "dev" or "rc" in the name
+aws s3 cp --recursive --exclude "*" --include "vllm-${RELEASE_VERSION}*.whl" --exclude "*dev*" --exclude "*rc*" "$S3_COMMIT_PREFIX" $DIST_DIR
+echo "Wheels copied to local directory"
+# generate source tarball
+git archive --format=tar.gz --output="$DIST_DIR/vllm-${RELEASE_VERSION}.tar.gz" $BUILDKITE_COMMIT
+ls -la $DIST_DIR
+
+
+# upload wheels to PyPI (only default variant, i.e. files without '+' in the name)
+PYPI_WHEEL_FILES=$(find $DIST_DIR -name "vllm-${RELEASE_VERSION}*.whl" -not -name "*+*")
+if [ -z "$PYPI_WHEEL_FILES" ]; then
+  echo "No default variant wheels found, quitting..."
+  exit 1
+fi
+python3 -m twine check $PYPI_WHEEL_FILES
+python3 -m twine --non-interactive --verbose upload $PYPI_WHEEL_FILES
+echo "Wheels uploaded to PyPI"
+
+# create release on GitHub with the release version and all wheels
+command "$GH_BIN" release create $GIT_VERSION -d --latest --notes-from-tag --verify-tag $DIST_DIR/*.whl