diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 230d3b945..40201f5e0 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -585,6 +585,6 @@ after_success:
   # uploading to pypi using twine
   # need TWINE_USERNAME, TWINE_PASSWORD and TWINE_REPOSITORY_URL env variable
   - if [ "$PYTHON_BUILD" = true ] || [ "$DOCKER_BUILD" = true ]; then
-      pip install -U twine;
+      pip install -U twine || sudo pip install -U twine;
       twine upload --skip-existing deploy/dist-pymod/$klayout_version/*;
     fi