diff --git a/.buildkite/release-pipeline.yaml b/.buildkite/release-pipeline.yaml
index f122c423ba5c..8a900c0bf862 100644
--- a/.buildkite/release-pipeline.yaml
+++ b/.buildkite/release-pipeline.yaml
@@ -309,6 +309,7 @@ steps:
         depends_on: ~
 
       - label: "Build release image - x86_64 - CPU"
+        key: build-cpu-release-image-x86
         depends_on:
           - block-cpu-release-image-build
           - input-release-version
@@ -327,7 +328,8 @@ steps:
         depends_on: ~
 
       - label: "Build release image - arm64 - CPU"
-        depends_on: 
+        key: build-cpu-release-image-arm64
+        depends_on:
           - block-arm64-cpu-release-image-build
           - input-release-version
         agents:
@@ -436,6 +438,41 @@ steps:
           DOCKER_BUILDKIT: "1"
           DOCKERHUB_USERNAME: "vllmbot"
 
+      - block: "Publish release images to DockerHub"
+        key: block-publish-release-images
+        depends_on:
+          - create-multi-arch-manifest
+          - create-multi-arch-manifest-cuda-12-9
+          - create-multi-arch-manifest-ubuntu2404
+          - create-multi-arch-manifest-cuda-12-9-ubuntu2404
+          - build-rocm-release-image
+          - input-release-version
+          # Wait for CPU builds if their block steps were unblocked, so publish
+          # doesn't race the in-progress CPU build. allow_failure lets publish
+          # proceed when the operator legitimately leaves the CPU block steps
+          # unblocked or the CPU build fails.
+          - step: build-cpu-release-image-x86
+            allow_failure: true
+          - step: build-cpu-release-image-arm64
+            allow_failure: true
+        if: build.env("NIGHTLY") != "1"
+
+      - label: "Publish release images to DockerHub"
+        depends_on:
+          - block-publish-release-images
+        key: publish-release-images-dockerhub
+        agents:
+          queue: small_cpu_queue_release
+        commands:
+          - "bash .buildkite/scripts/publish-release-images.sh"
+        plugins:
+          - docker-login#v3.0.0:
+              username: vllmbot
+              password-env: DOCKERHUB_TOKEN
+        env:
+          DOCKER_BUILDKIT: "1"
+          DOCKERHUB_USERNAME: "vllmbot"
+
   - group: "Publish wheels"
     key: "publish-wheels"
     steps:
diff --git a/.buildkite/scripts/annotate-release.sh b/.buildkite/scripts/annotate-release.sh
index 6f41d1cdda47..afa884fba46b 100755
--- a/.buildkite/scripts/annotate-release.sh
+++ b/.buildkite/scripts/annotate-release.sh
@@ -8,8 +8,6 @@ if [ -z "${RELEASE_VERSION}" ]; then
   RELEASE_VERSION="1.0.0.dev"
 fi
 
-ROCM_BASE_CACHE_KEY=$(.buildkite/scripts/cache-rocm-base-wheels.sh key)
-
 buildkite-agent annotate --style 'info' --context 'release-workflow' << EOF
 To download the wheel (by commit):
 \`\`\`
@@ -25,95 +23,5 @@ aws s3 cp s3://vllm-wheels/${BUILDKITE_COMMIT}/vllm-${RELEASE_VERSION}+cpu-cp38-
 aws s3 cp s3://vllm-wheels/${BUILDKITE_COMMIT}/vllm-${RELEASE_VERSION}+cpu-cp38-abi3-manylinux_2_35_aarch64.whl .
 \`\`\`
 
-
-To download and upload the image:
-
-\`\`\`
-# Download images:
-
-docker pull public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:${BUILDKITE_COMMIT}-x86_64
-docker pull public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:${BUILDKITE_COMMIT}-aarch64
-docker pull public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:${BUILDKITE_COMMIT}-x86_64-cu129
-docker pull public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:${BUILDKITE_COMMIT}-aarch64-cu129
-docker pull public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:${ROCM_BASE_CACHE_KEY}-rocm-base
-docker pull public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:${BUILDKITE_COMMIT}-rocm
-docker pull public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-cpu-release-repo:v${RELEASE_VERSION}
-docker pull public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-arm64-cpu-release-repo:v${RELEASE_VERSION}
-
-# Tag and push images:
-
-## CUDA
-
-docker tag public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:${BUILDKITE_COMMIT}-x86_64 vllm/vllm-openai:x86_64
-docker tag vllm/vllm-openai:x86_64 vllm/vllm-openai:latest-x86_64
-docker tag vllm/vllm-openai:x86_64 vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-x86_64
-docker push vllm/vllm-openai:latest-x86_64
-docker push vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-x86_64
-
-docker tag public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:${BUILDKITE_COMMIT}-x86_64-cu129 vllm/vllm-openai:x86_64-cu129
-docker tag vllm/vllm-openai:x86_64-cu129 vllm/vllm-openai:latest-x86_64-cu129
-docker tag vllm/vllm-openai:x86_64-cu129 vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-x86_64-cu129
-docker push vllm/vllm-openai:latest-x86_64-cu129
-docker push vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-x86_64-cu129
-
-docker tag public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:${BUILDKITE_COMMIT}-aarch64 vllm/vllm-openai:aarch64
-docker tag vllm/vllm-openai:aarch64 vllm/vllm-openai:latest-aarch64
-docker tag vllm/vllm-openai:aarch64 vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-aarch64
-docker push vllm/vllm-openai:latest-aarch64
-docker push vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-aarch64
-
-docker tag public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:${BUILDKITE_COMMIT}-aarch64-cu129 vllm/vllm-openai:aarch64-cu129
-docker tag vllm/vllm-openai:aarch64-cu129 vllm/vllm-openai:latest-aarch64-cu129
-docker tag vllm/vllm-openai:aarch64-cu129 vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-aarch64-cu129
-docker push vllm/vllm-openai:latest-aarch64-cu129
-docker push vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-aarch64-cu129
-
-## ROCm
-
-docker tag public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:${BUILDKITE_COMMIT}-rocm vllm/vllm-openai-rocm:${BUILDKITE_COMMIT}
-docker tag vllm/vllm-openai-rocm:${BUILDKITE_COMMIT} vllm/vllm-openai-rocm:latest
-docker tag vllm/vllm-openai-rocm:${BUILDKITE_COMMIT} vllm/vllm-openai-rocm:v${RELEASE_VERSION}
-docker push vllm/vllm-openai-rocm:latest
-docker push vllm/vllm-openai-rocm:v${RELEASE_VERSION}
-
-docker tag public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:${ROCM_BASE_CACHE_KEY}-rocm-base vllm/vllm-openai-rocm:${BUILDKITE_COMMIT}-base
-docker tag vllm/vllm-openai-rocm:${BUILDKITE_COMMIT}-base vllm/vllm-openai-rocm:latest-base
-docker tag vllm/vllm-openai-rocm:${BUILDKITE_COMMIT}-base vllm/vllm-openai-rocm:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-base
-docker push vllm/vllm-openai-rocm:latest-base
-docker push vllm/vllm-openai-rocm:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-base
-
-## CPU
-
-docker tag public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-cpu-release-repo:v${RELEASE_VERSION} vllm/vllm-openai-cpu:x86_64
-docker tag vllm/vllm-openai-cpu:x86_64 vllm/vllm-openai-cpu:latest-x86_64
-docker tag vllm/vllm-openai-cpu:x86_64 vllm/vllm-openai-cpu:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-x86_64
-docker push vllm/vllm-openai-cpu:latest-x86_64
-docker push vllm/vllm-openai-cpu:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-x86_64
-
-docker tag public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-arm64-cpu-release-repo:v${RELEASE_VERSION} vllm/vllm-openai-cpu:arm64
-docker tag vllm/vllm-openai-cpu:arm64 vllm/vllm-openai-cpu:latest-arm64
-docker tag vllm/vllm-openai-cpu:arm64 vllm/vllm-openai-cpu:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-arm64
-docker push vllm/vllm-openai-cpu:latest-arm64
-docker push vllm/vllm-openai-cpu:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-arm64
-
-# Create multi-arch manifest:
-
-docker manifest rm vllm/vllm-openai:latest
-docker manifest create vllm/vllm-openai:latest vllm/vllm-openai:latest-x86_64 vllm/vllm-openai:latest-aarch64
-docker manifest create vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION} vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-x86_64 vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-aarch64
-docker manifest push vllm/vllm-openai:latest
-docker manifest push vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}
-
-docker manifest rm vllm/vllm-openai:latest-cu129
-docker manifest create vllm/vllm-openai:latest-cu129 vllm/vllm-openai:latest-x86_64-cu129 vllm/vllm-openai:latest-aarch64-cu129
-docker manifest create vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-cu129 vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-x86_64-cu129 vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-aarch64-cu129
-docker manifest push vllm/vllm-openai:latest-cu129
-docker manifest push vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-cu129
-
-docker manifest rm vllm/vllm-openai-cpu:latest || true
-docker manifest create vllm/vllm-openai-cpu:latest vllm/vllm-openai-cpu:latest-x86_64 vllm/vllm-openai-cpu:latest-arm64
-docker manifest create vllm/vllm-openai-cpu:v${RELEASE_VERSION} vllm/vllm-openai-cpu:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-x86_64 vllm/vllm-openai-cpu:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-arm64
-docker manifest push vllm/vllm-openai-cpu:latest
-docker manifest push vllm/vllm-openai-cpu:v${RELEASE_VERSION}
-\`\`\`
+Docker images are published automatically by the "Publish release images to DockerHub" pipeline step.
 EOF
diff --git a/.buildkite/scripts/publish-release-images.sh b/.buildkite/scripts/publish-release-images.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000000..ec319aa76006
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.buildkite/scripts/publish-release-images.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,180 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright contributors to the vLLM project
+#
+# Publish release Docker images from ECR to DockerHub.
+# Pulls per-arch images, tags with latest and versioned tags, pushes them,
+# then creates and pushes multi-arch manifests.
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+RELEASE_VERSION=$(buildkite-agent meta-data get release-version --default "" | sed 's/^v//')
+if [ -z "${RELEASE_VERSION}" ]; then
+  echo "ERROR: release-version metadata not set"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+COMMIT="$BUILDKITE_COMMIT"
+ROCM_BASE_CACHE_KEY=$(.buildkite/scripts/cache-rocm-base-wheels.sh key)
+
+echo "========================================"
+echo "Publishing release images v${RELEASE_VERSION}"
+echo "  Commit: ${COMMIT}"
+echo "  ROCm base cache key: ${ROCM_BASE_CACHE_KEY}"
+echo "========================================"
+
+# Login to ECR to pull staging images
+aws ecr-public get-login-password --region us-east-1 | \
+  docker login --username AWS --password-stdin public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7
+
+# ---- CUDA (default: 13.0) ----
+
+docker pull public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:${COMMIT}-x86_64
+docker pull public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:${COMMIT}-aarch64
+
+docker tag public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:${COMMIT}-x86_64 vllm/vllm-openai:latest-x86_64
+docker tag public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:${COMMIT}-x86_64 vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-x86_64
+docker push vllm/vllm-openai:latest-x86_64
+docker push vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-x86_64
+
+docker tag public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:${COMMIT}-aarch64 vllm/vllm-openai:latest-aarch64
+docker tag public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:${COMMIT}-aarch64 vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-aarch64
+docker push vllm/vllm-openai:latest-aarch64
+docker push vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-aarch64
+
+docker manifest rm vllm/vllm-openai:latest || true
+docker manifest rm vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION} || true
+docker manifest create vllm/vllm-openai:latest vllm/vllm-openai:latest-x86_64 vllm/vllm-openai:latest-aarch64
+docker manifest create vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION} vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-x86_64 vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-aarch64
+docker manifest push vllm/vllm-openai:latest
+docker manifest push vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}
+
+# ---- CUDA 12.9 ----
+
+docker pull public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:${COMMIT}-x86_64-cu129
+docker pull public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:${COMMIT}-aarch64-cu129
+
+docker tag public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:${COMMIT}-x86_64-cu129 vllm/vllm-openai:latest-x86_64-cu129
+docker tag public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:${COMMIT}-x86_64-cu129 vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-x86_64-cu129
+docker push vllm/vllm-openai:latest-x86_64-cu129
+docker push vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-x86_64-cu129
+
+docker tag public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:${COMMIT}-aarch64-cu129 vllm/vllm-openai:latest-aarch64-cu129
+docker tag public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:${COMMIT}-aarch64-cu129 vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-aarch64-cu129
+docker push vllm/vllm-openai:latest-aarch64-cu129
+docker push vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-aarch64-cu129
+
+docker manifest rm vllm/vllm-openai:latest-cu129 || true
+docker manifest rm vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-cu129 || true
+docker manifest create vllm/vllm-openai:latest-cu129 vllm/vllm-openai:latest-x86_64-cu129 vllm/vllm-openai:latest-aarch64-cu129
+docker manifest create vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-cu129 vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-x86_64-cu129 vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-aarch64-cu129
+docker manifest push vllm/vllm-openai:latest-cu129
+docker manifest push vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-cu129
+
+# ---- Ubuntu 24.04 (CUDA 13.0) ----
+
+docker pull public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:${COMMIT}-x86_64-ubuntu2404
+docker pull public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:${COMMIT}-aarch64-ubuntu2404
+
+docker tag public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:${COMMIT}-x86_64-ubuntu2404 vllm/vllm-openai:latest-x86_64-ubuntu2404
+docker tag public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:${COMMIT}-x86_64-ubuntu2404 vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-x86_64-ubuntu2404
+docker push vllm/vllm-openai:latest-x86_64-ubuntu2404
+docker push vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-x86_64-ubuntu2404
+
+docker tag public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:${COMMIT}-aarch64-ubuntu2404 vllm/vllm-openai:latest-aarch64-ubuntu2404
+docker tag public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:${COMMIT}-aarch64-ubuntu2404 vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-aarch64-ubuntu2404
+docker push vllm/vllm-openai:latest-aarch64-ubuntu2404
+docker push vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-aarch64-ubuntu2404
+
+docker manifest rm vllm/vllm-openai:latest-ubuntu2404 || true
+docker manifest rm vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-ubuntu2404 || true
+docker manifest create vllm/vllm-openai:latest-ubuntu2404 vllm/vllm-openai:latest-x86_64-ubuntu2404 vllm/vllm-openai:latest-aarch64-ubuntu2404
+docker manifest create vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-ubuntu2404 vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-x86_64-ubuntu2404 vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-aarch64-ubuntu2404
+docker manifest push vllm/vllm-openai:latest-ubuntu2404
+docker manifest push vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-ubuntu2404
+
+# ---- Ubuntu 24.04 (CUDA 12.9) ----
+
+docker pull public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:${COMMIT}-x86_64-cu129-ubuntu2404
+docker pull public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:${COMMIT}-aarch64-cu129-ubuntu2404
+
+docker tag public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:${COMMIT}-x86_64-cu129-ubuntu2404 vllm/vllm-openai:latest-x86_64-cu129-ubuntu2404
+docker tag public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:${COMMIT}-x86_64-cu129-ubuntu2404 vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-x86_64-cu129-ubuntu2404
+docker push vllm/vllm-openai:latest-x86_64-cu129-ubuntu2404
+docker push vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-x86_64-cu129-ubuntu2404
+
+docker tag public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:${COMMIT}-aarch64-cu129-ubuntu2404 vllm/vllm-openai:latest-aarch64-cu129-ubuntu2404
+docker tag public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:${COMMIT}-aarch64-cu129-ubuntu2404 vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-aarch64-cu129-ubuntu2404
+docker push vllm/vllm-openai:latest-aarch64-cu129-ubuntu2404
+docker push vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-aarch64-cu129-ubuntu2404
+
+docker manifest rm vllm/vllm-openai:latest-cu129-ubuntu2404 || true
+docker manifest rm vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-cu129-ubuntu2404 || true
+docker manifest create vllm/vllm-openai:latest-cu129-ubuntu2404 vllm/vllm-openai:latest-x86_64-cu129-ubuntu2404 vllm/vllm-openai:latest-aarch64-cu129-ubuntu2404
+docker manifest create vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-cu129-ubuntu2404 vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-x86_64-cu129-ubuntu2404 vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-aarch64-cu129-ubuntu2404
+docker manifest push vllm/vllm-openai:latest-cu129-ubuntu2404
+docker manifest push vllm/vllm-openai:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-cu129-ubuntu2404
+
+# ---- ROCm ----
+
+docker pull public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:${COMMIT}-rocm
+docker pull public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:${ROCM_BASE_CACHE_KEY}-rocm-base
+
+docker tag public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:${COMMIT}-rocm vllm/vllm-openai-rocm:latest
+docker tag public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:${COMMIT}-rocm vllm/vllm-openai-rocm:v${RELEASE_VERSION}
+docker push vllm/vllm-openai-rocm:latest
+docker push vllm/vllm-openai-rocm:v${RELEASE_VERSION}
+
+docker tag public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:${ROCM_BASE_CACHE_KEY}-rocm-base vllm/vllm-openai-rocm:latest-base
+docker tag public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-release-repo:${ROCM_BASE_CACHE_KEY}-rocm-base vllm/vllm-openai-rocm:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-base
+docker push vllm/vllm-openai-rocm:latest-base
+docker push vllm/vllm-openai-rocm:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-base
+
+# ---- CPU ----
+# CPU images are behind separate block steps and may not have been built.
+# All-or-nothing: inspect both arches first, then either publish everything
+# (per-arch + multi-arch manifest) or skip everything. Publishing only one
+# arch would leave `:latest-x86_64` pointing at the new release while the
+# `:latest` multi-arch manifest still resolves to the previous release.
+
+CPU_X86_TAG=public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-cpu-release-repo:v${RELEASE_VERSION}
+CPU_ARM_TAG=public.ecr.aws/q9t5s3a7/vllm-arm64-cpu-release-repo:v${RELEASE_VERSION}
+
+CPU_X86_AVAILABLE=false
+CPU_ARM_AVAILABLE=false
+docker manifest inspect "${CPU_X86_TAG}" >/dev/null 2>&1 && CPU_X86_AVAILABLE=true
+docker manifest inspect "${CPU_ARM_TAG}" >/dev/null 2>&1 && CPU_ARM_AVAILABLE=true
+
+if [ "$CPU_X86_AVAILABLE" = "true" ] && [ "$CPU_ARM_AVAILABLE" = "true" ]; then
+  docker pull "${CPU_X86_TAG}"
+  docker tag "${CPU_X86_TAG}" vllm/vllm-openai-cpu:latest-x86_64
+  docker tag "${CPU_X86_TAG}" vllm/vllm-openai-cpu:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-x86_64
+  docker push vllm/vllm-openai-cpu:latest-x86_64
+  docker push vllm/vllm-openai-cpu:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-x86_64
+
+  docker pull "${CPU_ARM_TAG}"
+  docker tag "${CPU_ARM_TAG}" vllm/vllm-openai-cpu:latest-arm64
+  docker tag "${CPU_ARM_TAG}" vllm/vllm-openai-cpu:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-arm64
+  docker push vllm/vllm-openai-cpu:latest-arm64
+  docker push vllm/vllm-openai-cpu:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-arm64
+
+  docker manifest rm vllm/vllm-openai-cpu:latest || true
+  docker manifest rm vllm/vllm-openai-cpu:v${RELEASE_VERSION} || true
+  docker manifest create vllm/vllm-openai-cpu:latest vllm/vllm-openai-cpu:latest-x86_64 vllm/vllm-openai-cpu:latest-arm64
+  docker manifest create vllm/vllm-openai-cpu:v${RELEASE_VERSION} vllm/vllm-openai-cpu:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-x86_64 vllm/vllm-openai-cpu:v${RELEASE_VERSION}-arm64
+  docker manifest push vllm/vllm-openai-cpu:latest
+  docker manifest push vllm/vllm-openai-cpu:v${RELEASE_VERSION}
+elif [ "$CPU_X86_AVAILABLE" = "false" ] && [ "$CPU_ARM_AVAILABLE" = "false" ]; then
+  echo "WARNING: Neither CPU image found in ECR, skipping CPU publish (ensure block-cpu-release-image-build and block-arm64-cpu-release-image-build were unblocked and the builds finished pushing)"
+else
+  # Partial state: one arch built, the other did not. Fail loudly rather than
+  # ship a Docker Hub state where `:latest-${arch}` and `:latest` (multi-arch)
+  # disagree on which release they point at.
+  echo "ERROR: Partial CPU build detected (x86_64=${CPU_X86_AVAILABLE}, arm64=${CPU_ARM_AVAILABLE})."
+  echo "       Refusing to publish to avoid split-tag drift between per-arch and multi-arch tags."
+  echo "       Re-run the missing CPU build and retry, or manually publish if a single-arch release is intended."
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+echo ""
+echo "Successfully published release images for v${RELEASE_VERSION}"
diff --git a/.buildkite/scripts/upload-release-wheels-pypi.sh b/.buildkite/scripts/upload-release-wheels-pypi.sh
index 058e5bbe4f4c..7e2077a2692c 100644
--- a/.buildkite/scripts/upload-release-wheels-pypi.sh
+++ b/.buildkite/scripts/upload-release-wheels-pypi.sh
@@ -39,10 +39,11 @@ fi
 
 set -x # avoid printing secrets above
 
-# install twine from pypi
+# install twine and sdist build prerequisites from pypi
 python3 -m venv /tmp/vllm-release-env
 source /tmp/vllm-release-env/bin/activate
 pip install twine
+pip install -r requirements/build/cuda.txt
 python3 -m twine --version
 
 # copy release wheels to local directory