diff --git a/.env b/.env
index 4f9e197189..27d87a47f6 100644
--- a/.env
+++ b/.env
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ OTEL_JAVA_AGENT_VERSION=2.23.0
 OPENTELEMETRY_CPP_VERSION=1.24.0
 
 # Dependent images
-COLLECTOR_CONTRIB_IMAGE=ghcr.io/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-releases/opentelemetry-collector-contrib:0.144.0
+COLLECTOR_CONTRIB_IMAGE=ghcr.io/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-releases/opentelemetry-collector-contrib:0.145.0
 FLAGD_IMAGE=ghcr.io/open-feature/flagd:v0.12.9
 GRAFANA_IMAGE=grafana/grafana:12.3.1
 JAEGERTRACING_IMAGE=jaegertracing/jaeger:2.12.0
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index ca1d9efc12..65dd9a8d6b 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -9,6 +9,15 @@ the release.
 
 * [accounting] fix memory leak with dbcontext
   ([#2876](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-demo/pull/2876))
+* [chore] Upgrade OTel Collector to v0.145.0 with :warning: breaking change:
+  OTLP exporters renamed from `otlp` to `otlp_grpc/jaeger` and from
+  `otlphttp/prometheus` to `otlp_http/prometheus`
+  [#2942](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-demo/pull/2942)
+* [collector] Use the
+  [`set_semconv_span_name()`](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/tree/main/processor/transformprocessor#set_semconv_span_name)
+  function to better handle the next.js issue
+  [High-cardinality HTTP span names #54694](https://github.com/vercel/next.js/issues/54694)
+  [#2942](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-demo/pull/2942)
 
 ## 2.2.0
 
diff --git a/src/otel-collector/otelcol-config.yml b/src/otel-collector/otelcol-config.yml
index 81f2de4d66..480b58a612 100644
--- a/src/otel-collector/otelcol-config.yml
+++ b/src/otel-collector/otelcol-config.yml
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ receivers:
             enabled: true
 exporters:
   debug:
-  otlp_grpc:
+  otlp_grpc/jaeger:
     endpoint: "jaeger:4317"
     tls:
       insecure: true
@@ -152,14 +152,51 @@ processors:
     spike_limit_percentage: 25
   resourcedetection:
     detectors: [env, docker, system]
-  transform:
+  transform/sanitize_spans:
     error_mode: ignore
     trace_statements:
       - context: span
         statements:
-          # could be removed when https://github.com/vercel/next.js/pull/64852 is fixed upstream
-          - replace_pattern(name, "\\?.*", "")
-          - replace_match(name, "GET /api/products/*", "GET /api/products/{productId}")
+          # Sanitize spans to prevent span metrics cardinality explosion
+          # caused by non-compliant high cardinality span names:
+          # 1. Define missing http.route on key HTTP operations for meaningful operation names
+          # 2. Then normalize span names; http server spans lacking http.route default to operations "GET", "POST", etc.
+
+          # FRONTEND SERVICE
+
+          # Workaround for Next.js high cardinality span name issue: https://github.com/vercel/next.js/issues/54694
+          - set(span.attributes["http.route"], "/api/cart") where
+            span.kind == SPAN_KIND_SERVER and
+            resource.attributes["service.name"] == "frontend" and
+            span.attributes["http.route"] == nil and
+            IsMatch(span.attributes["http.target"], "\\/api\\/cart")  # e.g. # /api/cart
+
+          - set(span.attributes["http.route"], "/api/checkout") where
+            span.kind == SPAN_KIND_SERVER and
+            resource.attributes["service.name"] == "frontend" and
+            span.attributes["http.route"] == nil and
+            IsMatch(span.attributes["http.target"], "\\/api\\/checkout")  # e.g. # /api/checkout
+
+          - set(span.attributes["http.route"], "/api/products/{productId}") where
+            span.kind == SPAN_KIND_SERVER and
+            resource.attributes["service.name"] == "frontend" and
+            span.attributes["http.route"] == nil and
+            IsMatch(span.attributes["http.target"], "\\/api\\/products\\/.*")  # e.g. /api/products/1YMWWN1N4O
+
+          - set(span.attributes["http.route"], "/api/recommendations") where
+            span.kind == SPAN_KIND_SERVER and
+            resource.attributes["service.name"] == "frontend" and
+            span.attributes["http.route"] == nil and
+            IsMatch(span.attributes["http.target"], "\\/api\\/recommendations")  # e.g. # /api/recommendations?productIds=...
+
+          - set(span.attributes["http.route"], "/api/data") where
+            span.kind == SPAN_KIND_SERVER and
+            resource.attributes["service.name"] == "frontend" and
+            span.attributes["http.route"] == nil and
+            IsMatch(span.attributes["http.target"], "\\/api\\/data.*")  # e.g. # " /api/data?contextKeys=telescopes" or /api/data/?contextKeys=cameras
+
+          # SANITIZE ALL SPAN NAMES TO PREVENT CARDINALITY EXPLOSION
+          - set_semconv_span_name("1.37.0", "original_span_name")
 
 connectors:
   spanmetrics:
@@ -168,8 +205,8 @@ service:
   pipelines:
     traces:
       receivers: [otlp]
-      processors: [resourcedetection, memory_limiter, transform]
-      exporters: [otlp_grpc, debug, spanmetrics]
+      processors: [resourcedetection, memory_limiter, transform/sanitize_spans]
+      exporters: [otlp_grpc/jaeger, debug, spanmetrics]
     metrics:
       receivers: [docker_stats, httpcheck/frontend-proxy, hostmetrics, nginx, otlp, postgresql, redis, spanmetrics]
       processors: [resourcedetection, memory_limiter]