diff --git a/llama_stack/providers/remote/inference/nvidia/config.py b/llama_stack/providers/remote/inference/nvidia/config.py
index 6369928bb..0f45269c8 100644
--- a/llama_stack/providers/remote/inference/nvidia/config.py
+++ b/llama_stack/providers/remote/inference/nvidia/config.py
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ class NVIDIAConfig(BaseModel):
         description="A base url for accessing the NVIDIA NIM",
     )
     api_key: SecretStr | None = Field(
-        default_factory=lambda: os.getenv("NVIDIA_API_KEY"),
+        default_factory=lambda: SecretStr(os.getenv("NVIDIA_API_KEY")),
         description="The NVIDIA API key, only needed of using the hosted service",
     )
     timeout: int = Field(