diff --git a/sdk/monitor/azure-monitor-opentelemetry-exporter/CHANGELOG.md b/sdk/monitor/azure-monitor-opentelemetry-exporter/CHANGELOG.md
index a304408ab63c..0c40b701207c 100644
--- a/sdk/monitor/azure-monitor-opentelemetry-exporter/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/sdk/monitor/azure-monitor-opentelemetry-exporter/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@
 ### Breaking Changes
 
 ### Bugs Fixed
+- Kubernetes pod name takes precedence when populating `cloud_RoleInstance`
+  ([#45884](https://github.com/Azure/azure-sdk-for-python/pull/45884))
 
 ### Other Changes
 
diff --git a/sdk/monitor/azure-monitor-opentelemetry-exporter/azure/monitor/opentelemetry/exporter/_utils.py b/sdk/monitor/azure-monitor-opentelemetry-exporter/azure/monitor/opentelemetry/exporter/_utils.py
index a01120e5a8fa..56bbecb76fe0 100644
--- a/sdk/monitor/azure-monitor-opentelemetry-exporter/azure/monitor/opentelemetry/exporter/_utils.py
+++ b/sdk/monitor/azure-monitor-opentelemetry-exporter/azure/monitor/opentelemetry/exporter/_utils.py
@@ -297,12 +297,12 @@ def _get_cloud_role(resource: Resource) -> str:
 
 
 def _get_cloud_role_instance(resource: Resource) -> str:
-    service_instance_id = resource.attributes.get(ResourceAttributes.SERVICE_INSTANCE_ID)
-    if service_instance_id:
-        return service_instance_id  # type: ignore
     k8s_pod_name = resource.attributes.get(ResourceAttributes.K8S_POD_NAME)
     if k8s_pod_name:
         return k8s_pod_name  # type: ignore
+    service_instance_id = resource.attributes.get(ResourceAttributes.SERVICE_INSTANCE_ID)
+    if service_instance_id:
+        return service_instance_id  # type: ignore
     return platform.node()  # hostname default
 
 
diff --git a/sdk/monitor/azure-monitor-opentelemetry-exporter/tests/test_utils.py b/sdk/monitor/azure-monitor-opentelemetry-exporter/tests/test_utils.py
index 984c056014dd..9fa97b201edb 100644
--- a/sdk/monitor/azure-monitor-opentelemetry-exporter/tests/test_utils.py
+++ b/sdk/monitor/azure-monitor-opentelemetry-exporter/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -316,9 +316,49 @@ def test_populate_part_a_fields_aks_with_service(self):
         tags = _utils._populate_part_a_fields(resource)
         self.assertIsNotNone(tags)
         self.assertEqual(tags.get("ai.cloud.role"), "testServiceName")
+        self.assertEqual(tags.get("ai.cloud.roleInstance"), "testPodName")
+        self.assertEqual(tags.get("ai.internal.nodeName"), tags.get("ai.cloud.roleInstance"))
+
+    def test_populate_part_a_fields_uses_service_instance_id_when_pod_name_empty(self):
+        resource = Resource(
+            {
+                "service.name": "testServiceName",
+                "service.instance.id": "testServiceInstanceId",
+                "k8s.deployment.name": "testDeploymentName",
+                "k8s.replicaset.name": "testReplicaSetName",
+                "k8s.statefulset.name": "testStatefulSetName",
+                "k8s.job.name": "testJobName",
+                "k8s.cronjob.name": "testCronJobName",
+                "k8s.daemonset.name": "testDaemonSetName",
+                "k8s.pod.name": "",
+            }
+        )
+        tags = _utils._populate_part_a_fields(resource)
+        self.assertIsNotNone(tags)
+        self.assertEqual(tags.get("ai.cloud.role"), "testServiceName")
         self.assertEqual(tags.get("ai.cloud.roleInstance"), "testServiceInstanceId")
         self.assertEqual(tags.get("ai.internal.nodeName"), tags.get("ai.cloud.roleInstance"))
 
+    def test_populate_part_a_fields_falls_back_to_hostname_when_pod_and_instance_id_empty(self):
+        resource = Resource(
+            {
+                "service.name": "testServiceName",
+                "service.instance.id": "",
+                "k8s.deployment.name": "testDeploymentName",
+                "k8s.replicaset.name": "testReplicaSetName",
+                "k8s.statefulset.name": "testStatefulSetName",
+                "k8s.job.name": "testJobName",
+                "k8s.cronjob.name": "testCronJobName",
+                "k8s.daemonset.name": "testDaemonSetName",
+                "k8s.pod.name": "",
+            }
+        )
+        tags = _utils._populate_part_a_fields(resource)
+        self.assertIsNotNone(tags)
+        self.assertEqual(tags.get("ai.cloud.role"), "testServiceName")
+        self.assertEqual(tags.get("ai.cloud.roleInstance"), platform.node())
+        self.assertEqual(tags.get("ai.internal.nodeName"), tags.get("ai.cloud.roleInstance"))
+
     # Default service.name fields should be ignored when kubernetes values are present
     def test_populate_part_a_fields_aks_with_unknown_service(self):
         resource = Resource(