diff --git a/packages/metro-core/src/babel/transformer.js b/packages/metro-core/src/babel/transformer.js
index bff4e037199..497370ba9f3 100644
--- a/packages/metro-core/src/babel/transformer.js
+++ b/packages/metro-core/src/babel/transformer.js
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /* eslint-disable no-undef */
-const babelTransformer = require('__BABEL_TRANSFORMER_PATH__');
+const babelTransformer = require(__BABEL_TRANSFORMER_PATH__);
 const babelPlugins = __BABEL_PLUGINS__;
 /* eslint-enable no-undef */
 
diff --git a/packages/metro-core/src/plugin/__tests__/babel-transformer.test.ts b/packages/metro-core/src/plugin/__tests__/babel-transformer.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..1124533c537
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/metro-core/src/plugin/__tests__/babel-transformer.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+import fs from 'node:fs';
+import path from 'node:path';
+import { vol } from 'memfs';
+import { afterEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest';
+import { createBabelTransformer } from '../babel-transformer';
+import type { ModuleFederationConfigNormalized } from '../../types';
+
+function createConfig(): ModuleFederationConfigNormalized {
+  return {
+    name: 'test-app',
+    filename: 'remote.js',
+    remotes: {},
+    exposes: {},
+    shared: {},
+    shareStrategy: 'loaded-first',
+    plugins: [],
+  };
+}
+
+describe('createBabelTransformer', () => {
+  afterEach(() => {
+    vol.reset();
+    vi.restoreAllMocks();
+  });
+
+  it('escapes Windows paths for require()', () => {
+    const realReadFileSync = fs.readFileSync.bind(fs);
+    vi.spyOn(fs, 'readFileSync').mockImplementation(((filePath, options) => {
+      const targetPath = filePath.toString();
+      if (vol.existsSync(targetPath)) {
+        return vol.readFileSync(targetPath, options as never);
+      }
+      return realReadFileSync(filePath, options as never);
+    }) as typeof fs.readFileSync);
+    vi.spyOn(fs, 'writeFileSync').mockImplementation(((
+      filePath,
+      data,
+      options,
+    ) => {
+      const targetPath = filePath.toString();
+      vol.mkdirSync(path.dirname(targetPath), { recursive: true });
+      vol.writeFileSync(targetPath, data, options as never);
+    }) as typeof fs.writeFileSync);
+
+    const tmpDirPath = path.join('/virtual', '.mf');
+    vol.mkdirSync(tmpDirPath, { recursive: true });
+    const windowsPath =
+      'C:\\Users\\someone\\project\\node_modules\\metro-babel-transformer\\src\\index.js';
+
+    const outputPath = createBabelTransformer({
+      blacklistedPaths: [],
+      federationConfig: createConfig(),
+      originalBabelTransformerPath: windowsPath,
+      tmpDirPath,
+      enableInitializeCorePatching: false,
+      enableRuntimeRequirePatching: false,
+    });
+
+    const output = fs.readFileSync(outputPath, 'utf-8');
+    expect(output).toContain(`require(${JSON.stringify(windowsPath)})`);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/metro-core/src/plugin/babel-transformer.ts b/packages/metro-core/src/plugin/babel-transformer.ts
index ecd1723b53c..72a86b0e573 100644
--- a/packages/metro-core/src/plugin/babel-transformer.ts
+++ b/packages/metro-core/src/plugin/babel-transformer.ts
@@ -41,7 +41,10 @@ export function createBabelTransformer({
   ].filter(Boolean);
 
   const babelTransformer = transformerTemplate
-    .replaceAll('__BABEL_TRANSFORMER_PATH__', originalBabelTransformerPath)
+    .replaceAll(
+      '__BABEL_TRANSFORMER_PATH__',
+      JSON.stringify(originalBabelTransformerPath),
+    )
     .replaceAll('__BABEL_PLUGINS__', JSON.stringify(plugins));
 
   fs.writeFileSync(outputPath, babelTransformer, 'utf-8');