diff --git a/src/OpenTelemetry/Trace/SimpleActivityProcessor.cs b/src/OpenTelemetry/Trace/SimpleActivityProcessor.cs
index 3dc28ba3299..623512956cd 100644
--- a/src/OpenTelemetry/Trace/SimpleActivityProcessor.cs
+++ b/src/OpenTelemetry/Trace/SimpleActivityProcessor.cs
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@
 // limitations under the License.
 // </copyright>
 using System;
+using System.Collections.Concurrent;
+using System.Collections.Generic;
 using System.Diagnostics;
 using System.Threading;
 using System.Threading.Tasks;
@@ -26,16 +28,73 @@ namespace OpenTelemetry.Trace
     /// </summary>
     public class SimpleActivityProcessor : ActivityProcessor, IDisposable
     {
+        private const int DefaultMaxQueueSize = 2048;
+        private const int DefaultMaxExportBatchSize = 512;
+        private static readonly TimeSpan DefaultExporterTimeout = TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(30000);
+
         private readonly ActivityExporter exporter;
+        private readonly int maxQueueSize;
+        private readonly TimeSpan exporterTimeout;
+        private readonly int maxExportBatchSize;
+        private readonly ConcurrentQueue<Activity> activityQueue;
+        private readonly EventWaitHandle stopHandle = new EventWaitHandle(false, EventResetMode.ManualReset);
+        private readonly EventWaitHandle dataReadyHandle = new EventWaitHandle(false, EventResetMode.AutoReset);
+        private readonly Thread backgroundThread;
+        private volatile int currentQueueSize;
         private bool stopped;
 
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Initializes a new instance of the <see cref="SimpleActivityProcessor"/> class with default parameters:
+        /// <list type="bullet">
+        /// <item>
+        /// <description>maxQueueSize = 2048,</description>
+        /// </item>
+        /// <item>
+        /// <description>scheduledDelay = 5 sec,</description>
+        /// </item>
+        /// <item>
+        /// <description>exporterTimeout = 30 sec,</description>
+        /// </item>
+        /// <item>
+        /// <description>maxExportBatchSize = 512</description>
+        /// </item>
+        /// </list>
+        /// </summary>
+        /// <param name="exporter">Exporter instance.</param>
+        public SimpleActivityProcessor(ActivityExporter exporter)
+            : this(exporter, DefaultMaxQueueSize, DefaultExporterTimeout, DefaultMaxExportBatchSize)
+        {
+        }
+
         /// <summary>
         /// Initializes a new instance of the <see cref="SimpleActivityProcessor"/> class.
         /// </summary>
         /// <param name="exporter">Activity exporter instance.</param>
-        public SimpleActivityProcessor(ActivityExporter exporter)
+        /// <param name="maxQueueSize">Maximum queue size. After the size is reached activities are dropped by processor.</param>
+        /// <param name="exporterTimeout">Maximum allowed time to export data.</param>
+        /// <param name="maxExportBatchSize">The maximum batch size of every export. It must be smaller or equal to maxQueueSize.</param>
+        public SimpleActivityProcessor(ActivityExporter exporter, int maxQueueSize, TimeSpan exporterTimeout, int maxExportBatchSize)
         {
+            if (maxQueueSize <= 0)
+            {
+                throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException(nameof(maxQueueSize));
+            }
+
+            if (maxExportBatchSize <= 0 || maxExportBatchSize > maxQueueSize)
+            {
+                throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException(nameof(maxExportBatchSize));
+            }
+
             this.exporter = exporter ?? throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(exporter));
+            this.maxQueueSize = maxQueueSize;
+            this.exporterTimeout = exporterTimeout;
+            this.maxExportBatchSize = maxExportBatchSize;
+
+            this.backgroundThread = new Thread(this.BackgroundThreadBody)
+            {
+                Name = "OpenTelemetry.Processor",
+            };
+            this.backgroundThread.Start();
         }
 
         /// <inheritdoc />
@@ -46,17 +105,16 @@ public override void OnStart(Activity activity)
         /// <inheritdoc />
         public override void OnEnd(Activity activity)
         {
-            try
+            if (this.currentQueueSize >= this.maxQueueSize)
             {
-                // do not await, just start export
-                // it can still throw in synchronous part
-
-                _ = this.exporter.ExportAsync(new[] { activity }, CancellationToken.None);
-            }
-            catch (Exception ex)
-            {
-                OpenTelemetrySdkEventSource.Log.SpanProcessorException(nameof(this.OnEnd), ex);
+                OpenTelemetrySdkEventSource.Log.SpanProcessorQueueIsExhausted();
+                return;
             }
+
+            Interlocked.Increment(ref this.currentQueueSize);
+
+            this.activityQueue.Enqueue(activity);
+            this.dataReadyHandle.Set();
         }
 
         /// <inheritdoc />
@@ -65,6 +123,10 @@ public override Task ShutdownAsync(CancellationToken cancellationToken)
             if (!this.stopped)
             {
                 this.stopped = true;
+
+                this.stopHandle.Set();
+                this.backgroundThread.Join();
+
                 return this.exporter.ShutdownAsync(cancellationToken);
             }
 
@@ -114,6 +176,67 @@ protected virtual void Dispose(bool isDisposing)
                     {
                         OpenTelemetrySdkEventSource.Log.SpanProcessorException(nameof(this.Dispose), e);
                     }
+
+                    this.stopHandle.Dispose();
+                    this.dataReadyHandle.Dispose();
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        private void BackgroundThreadBody(object state)
+        {
+            WaitHandle[] handles = new WaitHandle[] { this.stopHandle, this.dataReadyHandle };
+            List<Activity> activities = new List<Activity>(this.maxExportBatchSize);
+
+            while (true)
+            {
+                int handleIndex = WaitHandle.WaitAny(handles);
+
+                try
+                {
+                    while (true)
+                    {
+                        // Read off the queue data that is ready to transmit, up to maxExportBatchSize.
+                        while (this.activityQueue.TryDequeue(out Activity activity))
+                        {
+                            Interlocked.Decrement(ref this.currentQueueSize);
+                            activities.Add(activity);
+                            if (activities.Count == this.maxExportBatchSize)
+                            {
+                                break;
+                            }
+                        }
+
+                        if (activities.Count == 0)
+                        {
+                            // No work to do, wait for signal to start again.
+                            break;
+                        }
+
+                        using var cts = new CancellationTokenSource(this.exporterTimeout);
+                        try
+                        {
+                            this.exporter.ExportAsync(activities, cts.Token).ConfigureAwait(false);
+                        }
+                        catch (OperationCanceledException)
+                        {
+                            OpenTelemetrySdkEventSource.Log.SpanExporterTimeout(activities.Count);
+                        }
+                        finally
+                        {
+                            activities.Clear();
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+                catch (Exception ex)
+                {
+                    OpenTelemetrySdkEventSource.Log.SpanProcessorException(nameof(this.BackgroundThreadBody), ex);
+                }
+
+                if (handleIndex == 0)
+                {
+                    // If shutdown was requested, exit thread.
+                    return;
                 }
             }
         }