diff --git a/gax-grpc/src/main/java/com/google/api/gax/grpc/InstantiatingGrpcChannelProvider.java b/gax-grpc/src/main/java/com/google/api/gax/grpc/InstantiatingGrpcChannelProvider.java
index d441a0c9a..1aeb6b179 100644
--- a/gax-grpc/src/main/java/com/google/api/gax/grpc/InstantiatingGrpcChannelProvider.java
+++ b/gax-grpc/src/main/java/com/google/api/gax/grpc/InstantiatingGrpcChannelProvider.java
@@ -339,7 +339,8 @@ && isOnComputeEngine()) {
       isDirectPathXdsEnabled = Boolean.parseBoolean(envProvider.getenv(DIRECT_PATH_ENV_ENABLE_XDS));
       if (isDirectPathXdsEnabled) {
         // google-c2p resolver target must not have a port number
-        builder = ComputeEngineChannelBuilder.forTarget("google-c2p:///" + serviceAddress);
+        builder =
+            ComputeEngineChannelBuilder.forTarget("google-c2p-experimental:///" + serviceAddress);
       } else {
         builder = ComputeEngineChannelBuilder.forAddress(serviceAddress, port);
         builder.defaultServiceConfig(directPathServiceConfig);