diff --git a/python/sglang/srt/entrypoints/engine.py b/python/sglang/srt/entrypoints/engine.py
index 8e7b72b33..a90a2428f 100644
--- a/python/sglang/srt/entrypoints/engine.py
+++ b/python/sglang/srt/entrypoints/engine.py
@@ -1141,13 +1141,14 @@ def _set_envs_and_config(server_args: ServerArgs):
                 "at https://docs.flashinfer.ai/installation.html.",
             )
         if _is_cuda:
-            # 0.4.3 is the first sgl-kernel that ships DeepGEMM as the separate
-            # sgl-deep-gemm wheel; our migrated deep_gemm call paths target that wheel's
-            # API and would misbehave against the older bundled DeepGEMM. [[WI-2026-06-07-001]]
+            # Keep this guard aligned with pyproject/runtime images. DeepGEMM
+            # compatibility is validated by the deep_gemm_wrapper import/call
+            # path because our deployments may use an external/tai-provided
+            # DeepGEMM stack while keeping sglang-kernel==0.4.0.
             assert_pkg_version(
                 "sglang-kernel",
-                "0.4.3",
-                "Please reinstall the latest version with `pip install sglang-kernel --force-reinstall`",
+                "0.4.0",
+                "Please reinstall the sglang-kernel version required by this environment.",
             )
 
     # Signal handlers can only be registered from the main thread.