diff --git a/litellm/llms/openai/openai.py b/litellm/llms/openai/openai.py
index d6340d182ae..49465ade3e1 100644
--- a/litellm/llms/openai/openai.py
+++ b/litellm/llms/openai/openai.py
@@ -358,6 +358,27 @@ def _embedding_request_without_sdk_defaults(
     return body, options
 
 
+def _status_code_for_openai_sdk_error(e: Exception) -> int:
+    """
+    Status code to attribute to an exception raised by the OpenAI SDK.
+
+    A bare ``openai.OpenAIError`` is raised at client construction, before any HTTP
+    exchange, so it carries no status code; missing credentials is the common case.
+    Defaulting it to 500 asserts that a server responded with a server error, which
+    makes a permanently unfixable configuration error retryable. Subclasses such as
+    ``APIConnectionError`` and ``APIStatusError`` keep their existing treatment, so
+    genuinely transient failures are still retried.
+
+    See https://github.com/BerriAI/litellm/issues/35860
+    """
+    status_code: Final = getattr(e, "status_code", None)
+    if status_code is not None:
+        return status_code
+    if type(e) is openai.OpenAIError:
+        return 400
+    return 500
+
+
 class OpenAIChatCompletion(BaseLLM, BaseOpenAILLM):
     def __init__(self) -> None:
         super().__init__()
@@ -998,7 +1019,7 @@ class OpenAIChatCompletion(BaseLLM, BaseOpenAILLM):
                 # e.message
             except Exception as e:
                 exception_response = getattr(e, "response", None)
-                status_code = getattr(e, "status_code", 500)
+                status_code = _status_code_for_openai_sdk_error(e)
                 exception_body = getattr(e, "body", None)
                 error_headers = getattr(e, "headers", None)
                 if error_headers is None and exception_response:
@@ -1153,7 +1174,7 @@ class OpenAIChatCompletion(BaseLLM, BaseOpenAILLM):
                     raise e
 
                 error_headers = getattr(e, "headers", None)
-                status_code = getattr(e, "status_code", 500)
+                status_code = _status_code_for_openai_sdk_error(e)
                 error_response = getattr(e, "response", None)
                 exception_body = getattr(e, "body", None)
                 if error_headers is None and error_response:
diff --git a/tests/unit/llms/openai/test_openai_sdk_error_status_code.py b/tests/unit/llms/openai/test_openai_sdk_error_status_code.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..795dc90c93f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/llms/openai/test_openai_sdk_error_status_code.py
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+import httpx
+import openai
+import pytest
+
+from litellm.llms.openai.openai import _status_code_for_openai_sdk_error
+
+
+def test_missing_credentials_is_not_a_server_error():
+    """
+    Regression test for https://github.com/BerriAI/litellm/issues/35860
+
+    The SDK raises a bare OpenAIError at client construction when no key is
+    configured. That happens before any HTTP exchange, so calling it a 500 marks a
+    permanently unfixable configuration error as a retryable server error.
+    """
+    with pytest.raises(openai.OpenAIError) as exc_info:
+        openai.OpenAI(api_key=None)
+
+    error = exc_info.value
+    assert not hasattr(error, "status_code")
+    assert _status_code_for_openai_sdk_error(error) == 400
+
+
+def test_connection_error_stays_retryable():
+    """Transient failures must keep the 500 default so retries still happen."""
+    error = openai.APIConnectionError(request=httpx.Request("POST", "http://example.com"))
+
+    assert not hasattr(error, "status_code")
+    assert _status_code_for_openai_sdk_error(error) == 500
+
+
+def test_existing_status_code_is_preserved():
+    class _WithStatus(Exception):
+        status_code = 429
+
+    assert _status_code_for_openai_sdk_error(_WithStatus()) == 429
+
+
+def test_unknown_exception_keeps_the_server_error_default():
+    """Anything that is not a bare OpenAIError keeps the previous behaviour."""
+    assert _status_code_for_openai_sdk_error(ValueError("boom")) == 500
+
+
+def test_status_code_zero_is_preserved():
+    """A falsy-but-present status code must not fall through to the default."""
+
+    class _ZeroStatus(Exception):
+        status_code = 0
+
+    assert _status_code_for_openai_sdk_error(_ZeroStatus()) == 0