diff --git a/dd-trace-core/src/main/java/datadog/trace/core/tagprocessor/InternalTagsAdder.java b/dd-trace-core/src/main/java/datadog/trace/core/tagprocessor/InternalTagsAdder.java
index 68b13d19faf..34588dc9da4 100644
--- a/dd-trace-core/src/main/java/datadog/trace/core/tagprocessor/InternalTagsAdder.java
+++ b/dd-trace-core/src/main/java/datadog/trace/core/tagprocessor/InternalTagsAdder.java
@@ -7,32 +7,40 @@
 import datadog.trace.bootstrap.instrumentation.api.AppendableSpanLinks;
 import datadog.trace.bootstrap.instrumentation.api.UTF8BytesString;
 import datadog.trace.core.DDSpanContext;
+import javax.annotation.Nonnull;
 import javax.annotation.Nullable;
 
 public final class InternalTagsAdder extends TagsPostProcessor {
   private final UTF8BytesString ddService;
-  private final UTF8BytesString version;
 
-  public InternalTagsAdder(@Nullable final String ddService, @Nullable final String version) {
-    this.ddService = ddService != null ? UTF8BytesString.create(ddService) : null;
-    this.version = version != null && !version.isEmpty() ? UTF8BytesString.create(version) : null;
+  // Prebuilt once to avoid per-span Entry allocation.
+  private final TagMap.Entry baseServiceEntry;
+  @Nullable private final TagMap.Entry versionEntry;
+
+  public InternalTagsAdder(@Nonnull final String ddService, @Nullable final String version) {
+    this.ddService = UTF8BytesString.create(ddService);
+    this.baseServiceEntry = TagMap.Entry.create(DDTags.BASE_SERVICE, this.ddService);
+    this.versionEntry =
+        version != null && !version.isEmpty()
+            ? TagMap.Entry.create(VERSION, UTF8BytesString.create(version))
+            : null;
   }
 
   @Override
   public void processTags(
       TagMap unsafeTags, DDSpanContext spanContext, AppendableSpanLinks spanLinks) {
-    if (spanContext == null || ddService == null) {
+    if (spanContext == null) {
       return;
     }
 
     if (!ddService.toString().equalsIgnoreCase(spanContext.getServiceName())) {
-      // service name !=  DD_SERVICE
-      unsafeTags.set(DDTags.BASE_SERVICE, ddService);
+      // service name != DD_SERVICE
+      unsafeTags.set(baseServiceEntry);
     } else {
       // as per config consistency, the version tag is added across tracers only if
       // the service name is DD_SERVICE and version  tag is not manually set
-      if (version != null && !unsafeTags.containsKey(VERSION)) {
-        unsafeTags.set(VERSION, version);
+      if (versionEntry != null && !unsafeTags.containsKey(VERSION)) {
+        unsafeTags.set(versionEntry);
       }
     }
   }