diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 6e5d5c74bd..42ec9138cd 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -11,6 +11,14 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ## Unreleased
 
+### Added
+
+### Fixed
+
+- `opentelemetry-instrumentation` Catch `ModuleNotFoundError` when the library is not installed
+  and log as debug instead of exception
+  ([#3423](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python-contrib/pull/3423))
+
 ## Version 1.32.0/0.53b0 (2025-04-10)
 
 ### Added
diff --git a/opentelemetry-instrumentation/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/auto_instrumentation/_load.py b/opentelemetry-instrumentation/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/auto_instrumentation/_load.py
index 5084879faa..4bbd95b41c 100644
--- a/opentelemetry-instrumentation/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/auto_instrumentation/_load.py
+++ b/opentelemetry-instrumentation/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/auto_instrumentation/_load.py
@@ -82,6 +82,14 @@ def _load_instrumentors(distro):
                 exc.conflict,
             )
             continue
+        except ModuleNotFoundError as exc:
+            # ModuleNotFoundError is raised when the library is not installed
+            # and the instrumentation is not required to be loaded.
+            # See https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python-contrib/issues/3421
+            _logger.debug(
+                "Skipping instrumentation %s: %s", entry_point.name, exc.msg
+            )
+            continue
         except ImportError:
             # in scenarios using the kubernetes operator to do autoinstrumentation some
             # instrumentors (usually requiring binary extensions) may fail to load
diff --git a/opentelemetry-instrumentation/tests/auto_instrumentation/test_load.py b/opentelemetry-instrumentation/tests/auto_instrumentation/test_load.py
index f4d4891739..37af270301 100644
--- a/opentelemetry-instrumentation/tests/auto_instrumentation/test_load.py
+++ b/opentelemetry-instrumentation/tests/auto_instrumentation/test_load.py
@@ -326,11 +326,12 @@ def test_load_instrumentors_dep_conflict(self, iter_mock, mock_logger):  # pylin
             ]
         )
 
+    @patch("opentelemetry.instrumentation.auto_instrumentation._load._logger")
     @patch(
         "opentelemetry.instrumentation.auto_instrumentation._load.entry_points"
     )
     def test_load_instrumentors_import_error_does_not_stop_everything(
-        self, iter_mock
+        self, iter_mock, mock_logger
     ):
         ep_mock1 = Mock(name="instr1")
         ep_mock2 = Mock(name="instr2")
@@ -354,6 +355,12 @@ def test_load_instrumentors_import_error_does_not_stop_everything(
             ]
         )
         self.assertEqual(distro_mock.load_instrumentor.call_count, 2)
+        mock_logger.exception.assert_any_call(
+            "Importing of %s failed, skipping it",
+            ep_mock1.name,
+        )
+
+        mock_logger.debug.assert_any_call("Instrumented %s", ep_mock2.name)
 
     @patch(
         "opentelemetry.instrumentation.auto_instrumentation._load.entry_points"
@@ -382,6 +389,46 @@ def test_load_instrumentors_raises_exception(self, iter_mock):
         )
         self.assertEqual(distro_mock.load_instrumentor.call_count, 1)
 
+    @patch("opentelemetry.instrumentation.auto_instrumentation._load._logger")
+    @patch(
+        "opentelemetry.instrumentation.auto_instrumentation._load.entry_points"
+    )
+    def test_load_instrumentors_module_not_found_error(
+        self, iter_mock, mock_logger
+    ):
+        ep_mock1 = Mock()
+        ep_mock1.name = "instr1"
+
+        ep_mock2 = Mock()
+        ep_mock2.name = "instr2"
+
+        distro_mock = Mock()
+
+        distro_mock.load_instrumentor.side_effect = [
+            ModuleNotFoundError("No module named 'fake_module'"),
+            None,
+        ]
+
+        iter_mock.side_effect = [(), (ep_mock1, ep_mock2), ()]
+
+        _load._load_instrumentors(distro_mock)
+
+        distro_mock.load_instrumentor.assert_has_calls(
+            [
+                call(ep_mock1, raise_exception_on_conflict=True),
+                call(ep_mock2, raise_exception_on_conflict=True),
+            ]
+        )
+        self.assertEqual(distro_mock.load_instrumentor.call_count, 2)
+
+        mock_logger.debug.assert_any_call(
+            "Skipping instrumentation %s: %s",
+            "instr1",
+            "No module named 'fake_module'",
+        )
+
+        mock_logger.debug.assert_any_call("Instrumented %s", ep_mock2.name)
+
     def test_load_instrumentors_no_entry_point_mocks(self):
         distro_mock = Mock()
         _load._load_instrumentors(distro_mock)