diff --git a/pkg/kthena-router/datastore/store.go b/pkg/kthena-router/datastore/store.go
index c85240aac..4b283d8c3 100644
--- a/pkg/kthena-router/datastore/store.go
+++ b/pkg/kthena-router/datastore/store.go
@@ -662,26 +662,29 @@ func (s *store) DecrPodOnFlightRequests(podName types.NamespacedName) {
 
 func (s *store) AddOrUpdateModelServer(ms *aiv1alpha1.ModelServer, pods sets.Set[types.NamespacedName]) error {
 	name := utils.GetNamespaceName(ms)
-	var modelServerObj *modelServer
-	if value, ok := s.modelServer.Load(name); !ok {
-		modelServerObj = newModelServer(ms)
-		// New object — no concurrent access yet, safe to write without lock
+
+	actual, loaded := s.modelServer.Load(name)
+	if !loaded {
+		newObj := newModelServer(ms)
 		if len(pods) != 0 {
-			modelServerObj.pods = pods
+			newObj.pods = pods.Copy()
 		}
-	} else {
-		modelServerObj = value.(*modelServer)
+		actual, loaded = s.modelServer.LoadOrStore(name, newObj)
+	}
+
+	modelServerObj := actual.(*modelServer)
+
+	if loaded {
 		// Existing object — concurrent readers may access modelServer and pods,
 		// so we must hold the lock to prevent data races.
 		modelServerObj.mutex.Lock()
 		modelServerObj.modelServer = ms
 		if len(pods) != 0 {
 			// do not operate s.pods here, which are done within pod handler
-			modelServerObj.pods = pods
+			modelServerObj.pods = pods.Copy()
 		}
 		modelServerObj.mutex.Unlock()
 	}
-	s.modelServer.Store(name, modelServerObj)
 	return nil
 }
 
@@ -818,36 +821,38 @@ func (s *store) AddOrUpdatePod(pod *corev1.Pod, modelServers []*aiv1alpha1.Model
 		}
 	}
 
-	if value, ok := s.pods.Load(podName); ok {
-		// Update existing pod in place — preserve runtime metrics and models.
-		oldPodInfo := value.(*PodInfo)
-		oldModelServers := oldPodInfo.GetModelServers()
-		// Handle the case where the pod no longer belongs to some model servers
-		oldPodLabels := oldPodInfo.GetPodLabels()
-		for msName := range oldModelServers.Difference(newModelServers) {
-			if value, ok := s.modelServer.Load(msName); ok {
-				ms := value.(*modelServer)
-				ms.deletePod(podName)
-				// Remove from PDGroup categorizations
-				ms.removePodFromPDGroups(podName, oldPodLabels)
-			}
+	actual, loaded := s.pods.Load(podName)
+	if !loaded {
+		newPodInfo := &PodInfo{
+			Pod:         pod,
+			engine:      engine,
+			modelServer: newModelServers,
+			models:      sets.New[string](),
+		}
+		actual, loaded = s.pods.LoadOrStore(podName, newPodInfo)
+		if !loaded {
+			// We were the one that successfully stored the new pod
+			s.updatePodMetrics(newPodInfo)
+			s.updatePodModels(newPodInfo)
+			return nil
 		}
-
-		oldPodInfo.UpdatePod(pod, engine, newModelServers)
-		return nil
 	}
 
-	// New pod — create PodInfo and fetch initial metrics.
-	newPodInfo := &PodInfo{
-		Pod:         pod,
-		engine:      engine,
-		modelServer: newModelServers,
-		models:      sets.New[string](),
+	// Update existing pod in place — preserve runtime metrics and models.
+	oldPodInfo := actual.(*PodInfo)
+	oldModelServers := oldPodInfo.GetModelServers()
+	// Handle the case where the pod no longer belongs to some model servers
+	oldPodLabels := oldPodInfo.GetPodLabels()
+	for msName := range oldModelServers.Difference(newModelServers) {
+		if value, ok := s.modelServer.Load(msName); ok {
+			ms := value.(*modelServer)
+			ms.deletePod(podName)
+			// Remove from PDGroup categorizations
+			ms.removePodFromPDGroups(podName, oldPodLabels)
+		}
 	}
-	s.pods.Store(podName, newPodInfo)
-	s.updatePodMetrics(newPodInfo)
-	s.updatePodModels(newPodInfo)
 
+	oldPodInfo.UpdatePod(pod, engine, newModelServers)
 	return nil
 }
 
diff --git a/pkg/kthena-router/datastore/store_test.go b/pkg/kthena-router/datastore/store_test.go
index e1edc4d89..23040f7a1 100644
--- a/pkg/kthena-router/datastore/store_test.go
+++ b/pkg/kthena-router/datastore/store_test.go
@@ -2243,3 +2243,81 @@ func TestMatchModelServer_GatewayScoped(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+func TestStoreAddOrUpdateModelServer_ConcurrentAccess(t *testing.T) {
+	s := &store{
+		modelServer: sync.Map{},
+	}
+	var wg sync.WaitGroup
+	errCh := make(chan error, 100)
+	// Simulate many concurrent goroutines trying to add the same ModelServer
+	for i := 0; i < 100; i++ {
+		wg.Add(1)
+		go func() {
+			defer wg.Done()
+			ms := &aiv1alpha1.ModelServer{
+				ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
+					Namespace: "default",
+					Name:      "concurrent-model1",
+				},
+			}
+			pods := sets.New[types.NamespacedName](types.NamespacedName{Namespace: "default", Name: "pod1"})
+			errCh <- s.AddOrUpdateModelServer(ms, pods)
+		}()
+	}
+	wg.Wait()
+	close(errCh)
+	for err := range errCh {
+		assert.NoError(t, err)
+	}
+
+	// Verify the model server is safely in the datastore and no panic occurred
+	msName := types.NamespacedName{Namespace: "default", Name: "concurrent-model1"}
+	value, ok := s.modelServer.Load(msName)
+	assert.True(t, ok)
+	msInfo := value.(*modelServer)
+	assert.NotNil(t, msInfo)
+	assert.True(t, msInfo.pods.Contains(types.NamespacedName{Namespace: "default", Name: "pod1"}))
+}
+
+func TestStoreAddOrUpdatePod_ConcurrentAccess(t *testing.T) {
+	s := &store{
+		modelServer: sync.Map{},
+		pods:        sync.Map{},
+	}
+	var wg sync.WaitGroup
+	errCh := make(chan error, 100)
+	// Simulate many concurrent goroutines trying to add the same Pod
+	for i := 0; i < 100; i++ {
+		wg.Add(1)
+		go func() {
+			defer wg.Done()
+			pod := &corev1.Pod{
+				ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
+					Namespace: "default",
+					Name:      "concurrent-pod1",
+				},
+			}
+			ms := &aiv1alpha1.ModelServer{
+				ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
+					Namespace: "default",
+					Name:      "model1",
+				},
+			}
+			errCh <- s.AddOrUpdatePod(pod, []*aiv1alpha1.ModelServer{ms})
+		}()
+	}
+	wg.Wait()
+	close(errCh)
+	for err := range errCh {
+		assert.NoError(t, err)
+	}
+
+	// Verify the pod is safely in the datastore and no panic occurred
+	podName := types.NamespacedName{Namespace: "default", Name: "concurrent-pod1"}
+	value, ok := s.pods.Load(podName)
+	assert.True(t, ok)
+	podInfo := value.(*PodInfo)
+	assert.NotNil(t, podInfo)
+	assert.True(t, podInfo.modelServer.Contains(types.NamespacedName{Namespace: "default", Name: "model1"}))
+}