diff --git a/cmd/kubelet/app/server.go b/cmd/kubelet/app/server.go
index 2d90030d210..2f1e10e1607 100644
--- a/cmd/kubelet/app/server.go
+++ b/cmd/kubelet/app/server.go
@@ -37,6 +37,8 @@ import (
 	"github.com/coreos/go-systemd/v22/daemon"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 	"github.com/spf13/pflag"
+	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel"
+	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel/metric/noop"
 	"google.golang.org/grpc/codes"
 	"google.golang.org/grpc/status"
 	jsonpatch "gopkg.in/evanphx/json-patch.v4"
@@ -121,6 +123,9 @@ import (
 
 func init() {
 	utilruntime.Must(logsapi.AddFeatureGates(utilfeature.DefaultMutableFeatureGate))
+	// Prevent memory leak from OTel metrics, which we don't use:
+	// https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-go-contrib/issues/5190
+	otel.SetMeterProvider(noop.NewMeterProvider())
 }
 
 const (
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/server/options/tracing.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/server/options/tracing.go
index d56e7df511d..7be62fad04c 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/server/options/tracing.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/server/options/tracing.go
@@ -23,7 +23,9 @@ import (
 	"net"
 
 	"github.com/spf13/pflag"
+	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel"
 	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel/exporters/otlp/otlptrace/otlptracegrpc"
+	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel/metric/noop"
 	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk/resource"
 	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel/semconv/v1.12.0"
 	"google.golang.org/grpc"
@@ -48,6 +50,12 @@ var (
 	codecs    = serializer.NewCodecFactory(cfgScheme)
 )
 
+func init() {
+	// Prevent memory leak from OTel metrics, which we don't use:
+	// https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-go-contrib/issues/5190
+	otel.SetMeterProvider(noop.NewMeterProvider())
+}
+
 func init() {
 	install.Install(cfgScheme)
 }