diff --git a/thunder/core/prims.py b/thunder/core/prims.py
index 790be71cb8..ac028a0ebb 100644
--- a/thunder/core/prims.py
+++ b/thunder/core/prims.py
@@ -293,6 +293,8 @@ class OpTags(Enum):
     CTX_MANAGER_ENTER_EXIT_OP = auto()
     # Label to explicitly disable an operation from recomputing in backward - see function `recompute_saved_for_backward`.
     DONT_RECOMPUTE_IN_BACKWARD = auto()
+    # Don't automatically tag operation to be recomputed in backward
+    DONT_AUTO_RECOMPUTE_IN_BACKWARD = auto()
 
 
 # TODO RC1 Document this function and describe the parts of a primitive
@@ -3780,7 +3782,9 @@ def linear_meta(a: TensorProxy, w: TensorProxy, bias: None | TensorProxy) -> Ten
     return TensorProxy(shape=out_shape, device=a.device, dtype=dtype, requires_grad=requires_grad)
 
 
-linear = make_prim(PrimIDs.LINEAR, "linear", meta=linear_meta, tags=(OpTags.MATMUL_OP,))
+linear = make_prim(
+    PrimIDs.LINEAR, "linear", meta=linear_meta, tags=(OpTags.MATMUL_OP, OpTags.DONT_AUTO_RECOMPUTE_IN_BACKWARD)
+)
 
 
 def matmul_meta(a: TensorProxy, b: TensorProxy, /) -> TensorProxy:
@@ -3839,7 +3843,9 @@ def matmul_meta(a: TensorProxy, b: TensorProxy, /) -> TensorProxy:
     return TensorProxy(like=a, shape=shape)
 
 
-matmul = make_prim(PrimIDs.MATMUL, "matmul", meta=matmul_meta, tags=(OpTags.MATMUL_OP,))
+matmul = make_prim(
+    PrimIDs.MATMUL, "matmul", meta=matmul_meta, tags=(OpTags.MATMUL_OP, OpTags.DONT_AUTO_RECOMPUTE_IN_BACKWARD)
+)
 
 #
 # NN prims
diff --git a/thunder/core/trace_interpreter.py b/thunder/core/trace_interpreter.py
index 491ba49233..4b795868d0 100644
--- a/thunder/core/trace_interpreter.py
+++ b/thunder/core/trace_interpreter.py
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 from thunder.core.utils import safe_map_flat, sequencify
 from thunder.core.proxies import variableify, ProxyTag
 from thunder.core.transform_common import VJPDual
+from thunder.core.symbol import has_tags
 
 
 # TODO: Currently we use trace.args and trace.kwargs to get the arguments
@@ -183,12 +184,20 @@ def do_swap(v):
 
             for new_bsym in new_bsyms:
                 # TODO: what to do with bsym header? Maybe have a combined from_bsym_swap_proxies and from_bsym?
-                for o in new_bsym.flat_proxy_outs:
-                    if variableify(o) not in swap_map:
-                        # when we decompose to compute the forward/backward, we mark intermediates as to be recomputed in the backward.
-                        # Typically our decompositions are for things that will then be fused together.
-                        # We could refine this heuristic to exclude "expensive" operations.
-                        o.tags.add(ProxyTag.RECOMPUTE_IN_BACKWARD)
+                if not has_tags(
+                    bsym,
+                    {
+                        prims.OpTags.RANDOM_OP,
+                        prims.OpTags.DONT_RECOMPUTE_IN_BACKWARD,
+                        prims.OpTags.DONT_AUTO_RECOMPUTE_IN_BACKWARD,
+                    },
+                ):
+                    # when we decompose to compute the forward/backward, we mark intermediates as to be recomputed in the backward.
+                    # Typically our decompositions are for things that will then be fused together.
+                    # We tag "expensive" operations (sdpa, matmul) as DONT_AUTO_RECOMPUTE_IN_BACKWARD to block this.
+                    for o in new_bsym.flat_proxy_outs:
+                        if variableify(o) not in swap_map:
+                            o.tags.add(ProxyTag.RECOMPUTE_IN_BACKWARD)
                 new_trace.bound_symbols.append(
                     new_bsym.from_bsym_swap_proxies(swap_map).from_bsym(
                         source_filename=bsym.source_filename, source_positions=bsym.source_positions
diff --git a/thunder/executors/cudnnex.py b/thunder/executors/cudnnex.py
index 409c167284..e7f9f4505d 100644
--- a/thunder/executors/cudnnex.py
+++ b/thunder/executors/cudnnex.py
@@ -79,6 +79,7 @@ def _get_cudnn_handle(query_device):
 from thunder.torch import TensorLike
 from thunder.core.compile_data import get_compile_option
 from thunder.core.proxies import Proxy, TensorProxy
+from thunder.core.prims import OpTags
 
 
 from thunder.core.transforms import (
@@ -425,6 +426,7 @@ def _cudnn_sdpa_checker(
     "cudnn_sdpa_fwd",
     meta=_cudnn_sdpa_forward_meta,
     fn=_cudnn_sdpa_fwd_impl,
+    tags=(OpTags.DONT_AUTO_RECOMPUTE_IN_BACKWARD,),
 )
 
 
diff --git a/thunder/executors/sdpaex.py b/thunder/executors/sdpaex.py
index 3fc6eab9e9..85b5145d30 100644
--- a/thunder/executors/sdpaex.py
+++ b/thunder/executors/sdpaex.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 from thunder.core.proxies import Proxy, TensorProxy
 import thunder.core.utils as utils
 import thunder.core.devices as devices
+from thunder.core.prims import OpTags
 
 import thunder.torch as ltorch
 from thunder.torch import TensorLike
@@ -171,6 +172,7 @@ def _grad_forward_scaled_dot_product_efficient_attention_impl(
     "sdpaex_grad_forward_scaled_dot_product_efficient_attention",
     meta=_grad_forward_scaled_dot_product_efficient_attention_meta,
     fn=_grad_forward_scaled_dot_product_efficient_attention_impl,
+    tags=(OpTags.DONT_AUTO_RECOMPUTE_IN_BACKWARD,),
 )
 
 
@@ -244,6 +246,7 @@ def _grad_forward_scaled_dot_product_flash_attention_impl(
     "sdpafx_grad_forward_scaled_dot_product_efficient_attention",
     meta=_grad_forward_scaled_dot_product_flash_attention_meta,
     fn=_grad_forward_scaled_dot_product_flash_attention_impl,
+    tags=(OpTags.DONT_AUTO_RECOMPUTE_IN_BACKWARD,),
 )
 
 
diff --git a/thunder/tests/test_examine_memory.py b/thunder/tests/test_examine_memory.py
index 4a7b40d194..2f89f834ae 100644
--- a/thunder/tests/test_examine_memory.py
+++ b/thunder/tests/test_examine_memory.py
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ def test_nanogpt_block():
 
     # Actual memory usage may vary depending on hardware and cuBLAS settings.
     # We are checking the estimated memory against a fixed value for consistency.
-    assert max_mem_fw[0] == 262183936
-    assert sum(max_mem_fw[1].values()) == 135306240
-    assert max_mem_bw[0] == 375516160
+    assert max_mem_fw[0] == 293641216
+    assert sum(max_mem_fw[1].values()) == 249601024
+    assert max_mem_bw[0] == 399633408
     assert sum(max_mem_bw[1].values()) == 40934400
diff --git a/thunder/tests/test_networks.py b/thunder/tests/test_networks.py
index daea2dbff6..265c46a4b0 100644
--- a/thunder/tests/test_networks.py
+++ b/thunder/tests/test_networks.py
@@ -581,4 +581,13 @@ def forward_backward_peak(m, inp):
     mem_thunder = forward_backward_peak(jm, inp)
     mem_eager = forward_backward_peak(m, inp)
 
+    # assert that attention is not automatically recomputed, see
+    # https://github.com/Lightning-AI/lightning-thunder/issues/1646
+    assert not {
+        bsym.sym.name
+        for bsym in thunder.last_backward_traces(jm)[-1].bound_symbols
+        if ("attention" in bsym.sym.name or "sdpa" in bsym.sym.name)
+        and ("forward" in bsym.sym.name or "fwd" in bsym.sym.name)
+    }
+
     assert mem_thunder < mem_eager
diff --git a/thunder/torch/__init__.py b/thunder/torch/__init__.py
index 0d10f03563..bb661df2ab 100644
--- a/thunder/torch/__init__.py
+++ b/thunder/torch/__init__.py
@@ -5206,7 +5206,7 @@ def mse_loss(
 
 # TODO Add annotations
 # NOTE The scale parameter is kwarg-only in PyTorch
-@torchsymbol(torch.nn.functional.scaled_dot_product_attention)
+@torchsymbol(torch.nn.functional.scaled_dot_product_attention, tags=(prims.OpTags.DONT_AUTO_RECOMPUTE_IN_BACKWARD,))
 def scaled_dot_product_attention(query, key, value, attn_mask=None, dropout_p=0.0, is_causal=False, *, scale=None):
     for arg_name, arg in zip(("query", "key", "value"), (query, key, value)):
         utils.check(