diff --git a/sdk/common/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/internal/AttributeUtil.java b/sdk/common/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/internal/AttributeUtil.java
index e0fc9b56b90..b272dbc08a2 100644
--- a/sdk/common/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/internal/AttributeUtil.java
+++ b/sdk/common/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/internal/AttributeUtil.java
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.function.BiConsumer;
 import java.util.function.Predicate;
+import javax.annotation.Nullable;
 
 /**
  * This class is internal and is hence not for public use. Its APIs are unstable and can change at
@@ -107,13 +108,19 @@ public static Object applyAttributeLengthLimit(Object value, int lengthLimit) {
   }
 
   public static void addExceptionAttributes(
-      Throwable exception, BiConsumer<AttributeKey<String>, String> attributeConsumer) {
+      BiConsumer<AttributeKey<String>, String> attributeConsumer, Throwable exception) {
+    addExceptionAttributes(attributeConsumer, exception, exception.getMessage());
+  }
+
+  public static void addExceptionAttributes(
+      BiConsumer<AttributeKey<String>, String> attributeConsumer,
+      Throwable exception,
+      @Nullable String exceptionMessage) {
     String exceptionType = exception.getClass().getCanonicalName();
     if (exceptionType != null) {
       attributeConsumer.accept(EXCEPTION_TYPE, exceptionType);
     }
 
-    String exceptionMessage = exception.getMessage();
     if (exceptionMessage != null) {
       attributeConsumer.accept(EXCEPTION_MESSAGE, exceptionMessage);
     }
diff --git a/sdk/logs/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/logs/SdkLogRecordBuilder.java b/sdk/logs/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/logs/SdkLogRecordBuilder.java
index a73f4aa681b..d24cdc62f1a 100644
--- a/sdk/logs/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/logs/SdkLogRecordBuilder.java
+++ b/sdk/logs/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/logs/SdkLogRecordBuilder.java
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ SdkLogRecordBuilder setException(Throwable throwable) {
       return this;
     }
 
-    AttributeUtil.addExceptionAttributes(throwable, this::setAttribute);
+    AttributeUtil.addExceptionAttributes(this::setAttribute, throwable);
 
     return this;
   }
diff --git a/sdk/trace/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/SdkSpan.java b/sdk/trace/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/SdkSpan.java
index 30ee4bbdebf..d8b580280d1 100644
--- a/sdk/trace/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/SdkSpan.java
+++ b/sdk/trace/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/SdkSpan.java
@@ -20,11 +20,11 @@
 import io.opentelemetry.sdk.internal.InstrumentationScopeUtil;
 import io.opentelemetry.sdk.resources.Resource;
 import io.opentelemetry.sdk.trace.data.EventData;
-import io.opentelemetry.sdk.trace.data.ExceptionEventData;
 import io.opentelemetry.sdk.trace.data.LinkData;
 import io.opentelemetry.sdk.trace.data.SpanData;
 import io.opentelemetry.sdk.trace.data.StatusData;
 import io.opentelemetry.sdk.trace.internal.ExtendedSpanProcessor;
+import io.opentelemetry.sdk.trace.internal.data.LazyExceptionEventData;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.List;
@@ -465,17 +465,9 @@ public ReadWriteSpan recordException(Throwable exception, Attributes additionalA
       additionalAttributes = Attributes.empty();
     }
 
-    AttributesMap attributes =
-        AttributesMap.create(
-            spanLimits.getMaxNumberOfAttributes(), spanLimits.getMaxAttributeValueLength());
-
-    AttributeUtil.addExceptionAttributes(exception, attributes::put);
-
-    additionalAttributes.forEach(attributes::put);
-
     addTimedEvent(
-        ExceptionEventData.create(
-            clock.now(), exception, attributes, attributes.getTotalAddedValues()));
+        LazyExceptionEventData.create(clock.now(), exception, additionalAttributes, spanLimits));
+
     return this;
   }
 
diff --git a/sdk/trace/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/internal/data/LazyExceptionEventData.java b/sdk/trace/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/internal/data/LazyExceptionEventData.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..aba715d0daf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sdk/trace/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/internal/data/LazyExceptionEventData.java
@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+ */
+
+package io.opentelemetry.sdk.trace.internal.data;
+
+import com.google.auto.value.AutoValue;
+import com.google.auto.value.extension.memoized.Memoized;
+import io.opentelemetry.api.common.AttributeKey;
+import io.opentelemetry.api.common.Attributes;
+import io.opentelemetry.sdk.internal.AttributeUtil;
+import io.opentelemetry.sdk.internal.AttributesMap;
+import io.opentelemetry.sdk.trace.SpanLimits;
+import io.opentelemetry.sdk.trace.data.ExceptionEventData;
+import javax.annotation.Nullable;
+import javax.annotation.concurrent.Immutable;
+
+/**
+ * An {@link ExceptionEventData} implementation with {@link #getAttributes()} lazily evaluated,
+ * allowing the (relatively) expensive exception attribute rendering to take place off the hot path.
+ *
+ * <p>This class is internal and is hence not for public use. Its APIs are unstable and can change
+ * at any time.
+ */
+@AutoValue
+@Immutable
+public abstract class LazyExceptionEventData implements ExceptionEventData {
+
+  private static final AttributeKey<String> EXCEPTION_TYPE =
+      AttributeKey.stringKey("exception.type");
+  private static final AttributeKey<String> EXCEPTION_MESSAGE =
+      AttributeKey.stringKey("exception.message");
+  private static final AttributeKey<String> EXCEPTION_STACKTRACE =
+      AttributeKey.stringKey("exception.stacktrace");
+  private static final String EXCEPTION_EVENT_NAME = "exception";
+
+  @Override
+  public final String getName() {
+    return EXCEPTION_EVENT_NAME;
+  }
+
+  // Autowire generates AutoValue_LazyExceptionEventData and $AutoValue_LazyExceptionEventData to
+  // account to memoize getAttributes. Unfortunately, $AutoValue_LazyExceptionEventData's
+  // exceptionMessage constructor param is properly annotated with @Nullable, but
+  // AutoValue_LazyExceptionEventData's is not. So we suppress the NullAway false positive.
+  @SuppressWarnings("NullAway")
+  public static ExceptionEventData create(
+      long epochNanos,
+      Throwable exception,
+      Attributes additionalAttributes,
+      SpanLimits spanLimits) {
+    // Compute exception message at initialization time to be conservative about possibility of
+    // Exception#geMessage() not being thread safe
+    return new AutoValue_LazyExceptionEventData(
+        epochNanos, exception, spanLimits, exception.getMessage(), additionalAttributes);
+  }
+
+  abstract SpanLimits getSpanLimits();
+
+  @Nullable
+  abstract String getExceptionMessage();
+
+  public abstract Attributes getAdditionalAttributes();
+
+  @Override
+  @Memoized
+  public Attributes getAttributes() {
+    Throwable exception = getException();
+    SpanLimits spanLimits = getSpanLimits();
+    Attributes additionalAttributes = getAdditionalAttributes();
+
+    AttributesMap attributes =
+        AttributesMap.create(
+            spanLimits.getMaxNumberOfAttributes(), spanLimits.getMaxAttributeValueLength());
+
+    AttributeUtil.addExceptionAttributes(attributes::put, exception, getExceptionMessage());
+
+    additionalAttributes.forEach(attributes::put);
+
+    return attributes.immutableCopy();
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public int getTotalAttributeCount() {
+    // getAttributes() lazily adds 3 attributes to getAdditionalAttributes():
+    // - exception.type
+    // - exception.message
+    // - exception.stacktrace
+    return getAdditionalAttributes().size() + 3;
+  }
+
+  LazyExceptionEventData() {}
+}