diff --git a/.github/renovate.json5 b/.github/renovate.json5
index 3f6c5933d..3e585ccff 100644
--- a/.github/renovate.json5
+++ b/.github/renovate.json5
@@ -17,6 +17,15 @@
       "ignoreUnstable": false,
       "allowedVersions": "!/\\-SNAPSHOT$/"
     },
+    {
+      // Group updates from otel java core repo, so that x.y.z and x.y.z-alpha
+      // are updated together.
+      "matchPackageNames": [
+        "io.opentelemetry:opentelemetry-*",
+      ],
+      "extractVersion": "^(?<version>\\d+\\.\\d+\\.\\d+)(-alpha)?",
+      "groupName": "otel-core"
+    },
     {
       // navigation-fragment 2.7.0 and above require android api 34+, which we are not ready for
       // yet due to android gradle plugin only supporting min 33.