diff --git a/requirements/app/base.txt b/requirements/app/base.txt
index 37e91689bb54d..9590f2c1a2fbd 100644
--- a/requirements/app/base.txt
+++ b/requirements/app/base.txt
@@ -12,4 +12,3 @@ beautifulsoup4>=4.8.0, <4.11.2
 inquirer>=2.10.0
 psutil<5.9.4
 click<=8.1.3
-aiohttp>=3.8.0, <=3.8.3
diff --git a/requirements/app/components.txt b/requirements/app/components.txt
index 38180a480a59b..dd2cadfc1c17e 100644
--- a/requirements/app/components.txt
+++ b/requirements/app/components.txt
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 # deps required by components in the lightning app repository (src/lightning_app/components)
 lightning_api_access>=0.0.3
+aiohttp>=3.8.0, <=3.8.3
diff --git a/src/lightning_app/CHANGELOG.md b/src/lightning_app/CHANGELOG.md
index 889bf82b8e42a..05240adc46668 100644
--- a/src/lightning_app/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/src/lightning_app/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -43,6 +43,8 @@ The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](http://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/).
 
 - Apps without UIs no longer activate the "Open App" button when running in the cloud ([#15875](https://github.com/Lightning-AI/lightning/pull/15875))
 
+- Remove the `AutoScaler` dependency `aiohttp` from the base requirements ([#15971](https://github.com/Lightning-AI/lightning/pull/15971))
+
 
 ### Deprecated
 
diff --git a/src/lightning_app/components/auto_scaler.py b/src/lightning_app/components/auto_scaler.py
index 62e6180c49665..629e771c50600 100644
--- a/src/lightning_app/components/auto_scaler.py
+++ b/src/lightning_app/components/auto_scaler.py
@@ -8,8 +8,6 @@
 from itertools import cycle
 from typing import Any, Dict, List, Tuple, Type
 
-import aiohttp
-import aiohttp.client_exceptions
 import requests
 import uvicorn
 from fastapi import Depends, FastAPI, HTTPException, Request
@@ -22,8 +20,13 @@
 from lightning_app.core.flow import LightningFlow
 from lightning_app.core.work import LightningWork
 from lightning_app.utilities.app_helpers import Logger
+from lightning_app.utilities.imports import _is_aiohttp_available, requires
 from lightning_app.utilities.packaging.cloud_compute import CloudCompute
 
+if _is_aiohttp_available():
+    import aiohttp
+    import aiohttp.client_exceptions
+
 logger = Logger(__name__)
 
 
@@ -114,6 +117,7 @@ class _LoadBalancer(LightningWork):
         \**kwargs: Arguments passed to :func:`LightningWork.init` like ``CloudCompute``, ``BuildConfig``, etc.
     """
 
+    @requires(["aiohttp"])
     def __init__(
         self,
         input_type: BaseModel,
diff --git a/src/lightning_app/utilities/imports.py b/src/lightning_app/utilities/imports.py
index b484110d3811e..19978fcf5d137 100644
--- a/src/lightning_app/utilities/imports.py
+++ b/src/lightning_app/utilities/imports.py
@@ -141,4 +141,8 @@ def _is_sqlmodel_available() -> bool:
     return module_available("sqlmodel")
 
 
+def _is_aiohttp_available() -> bool:
+    return module_available("aiohttp")
+
+
 _CLOUD_TEST_RUN = bool(os.getenv("CLOUD", False))