diff --git a/router-tests/telemetry/telemetry_test.go b/router-tests/telemetry/telemetry_test.go
index 1c9be2fff0..6682185d0d 100644
--- a/router-tests/telemetry/telemetry_test.go
+++ b/router-tests/telemetry/telemetry_test.go
@@ -2605,15 +2605,13 @@ func TestRuntimeTelemetry(t *testing.T) {
 
 			metricServerUptime := getMetricByName(runtimeScope, "server.uptime")
 			require.NotNil(t, metricServerUptime)
-			metricServerUptimeDataType := metricServerUptime.Data.(metricdata.Sum[int64])
+			metricServerUptimeDataType := metricServerUptime.Data.(metricdata.Gauge[int64])
 			require.Len(t, metricServerUptimeDataType.DataPoints, 1)
 			serverUptimeMetric := metricdata.Metrics{
 				Name:        "server.uptime",
 				Description: "Seconds since the server started. Resets between router config changes.",
 				Unit:        "s",
-				Data: metricdata.Sum[int64]{
-					Temporality: metricdata.CumulativeTemporality,
-					IsMonotonic: true,
+				Data: metricdata.Gauge[int64]{
 					DataPoints: []metricdata.DataPoint[int64]{
 						{
 							Attributes: attribute.NewSet(
diff --git a/router/pkg/metric/router_runtime_metrics.go b/router/pkg/metric/router_runtime_metrics.go
index f8ab432ebd..0d38d4ca51 100644
--- a/router/pkg/metric/router_runtime_metrics.go
+++ b/router/pkg/metric/router_runtime_metrics.go
@@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ func (r *RuntimeMetrics) Start() error {
 		return err
 	}
 
-	serverUptime, err := r.meter.Int64ObservableCounter(
+	serverUptime, err := r.meter.Int64ObservableGauge(
 		"server.uptime",
 		otelmetric.WithUnit("s"),
 		otelmetric.WithDescription("Seconds since the server started. Resets between router config changes."),