diff --git a/packages/opentelemetry-tracing/src/Span.ts b/packages/opentelemetry-tracing/src/Span.ts
index b8117b0195e..b7893322940 100644
--- a/packages/opentelemetry-tracing/src/Span.ts
+++ b/packages/opentelemetry-tracing/src/Span.ts
@@ -206,6 +206,7 @@ export class Span implements api.Span, ReadableSpan {
       attributes[ExceptionAttribute.MESSAGE]
     ) {
       this.addEvent(ExceptionEventName, attributes as api.Attributes, time);
+      this.setStatus({ code: api.CanonicalCode.INTERNAL });
     } else {
       this._logger.warn(`Failed to record an exception ${exception}`);
     }
diff --git a/packages/opentelemetry-tracing/test/Span.test.ts b/packages/opentelemetry-tracing/test/Span.test.ts
index a86222e63b2..3c0531f8278 100644
--- a/packages/opentelemetry-tracing/test/Span.test.ts
+++ b/packages/opentelemetry-tracing/test/Span.test.ts
@@ -397,6 +397,9 @@ describe('Span', () => {
           'exception.message': 'boom',
         });
         assert.ok(event.time[0] > 0);
+
+        const status = span.status;
+        assert.strictEqual(status.code, CanonicalCode.INTERNAL);
       });
     });
 
@@ -432,6 +435,9 @@ describe('Span', () => {
           assert.strictEqual(type, 'Error');
           assert.strictEqual(message, 'boom');
           assert.strictEqual(stacktrace, 'bar');
+
+          const status = span.status;
+          assert.strictEqual(status.code, CanonicalCode.INTERNAL);
         });
       });
     });