diff --git a/mlx/backend/metal/matmul.cpp b/mlx/backend/metal/matmul.cpp
index 540fbce02..9f435f73c 100644
--- a/mlx/backend/metal/matmul.cpp
+++ b/mlx/backend/metal/matmul.cpp
@@ -359,7 +359,7 @@ void steel_matmul_regular_axpby(
     float beta /* = 0.0f */) {
 #ifdef MLX_ENABLE_NAX
 
-  if (metal::is_nax_available() &&
+  if (metal::is_nax_available() && !issubdtype(a.dtype(), complexfloating) &&
       (a.dtype() != float32 || env::enable_tf32())) {
     return steel_matmul_regular_axpby_nax<CHECK_AB>(
         /* const Stream& s = */ s,