diff --git a/.changeset/neat-boats-shake.md b/.changeset/neat-boats-shake.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..0df653d14c69
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/neat-boats-shake.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"svelte": patch
+---
+
+fix: only escape characters in SSR template
diff --git a/packages/svelte/src/compiler/phases/3-transform/server/transform-server.js b/packages/svelte/src/compiler/phases/3-transform/server/transform-server.js
index d197ae3e8567..1492a9045a39 100644
--- a/packages/svelte/src/compiler/phases/3-transform/server/transform-server.js
+++ b/packages/svelte/src/compiler/phases/3-transform/server/transform-server.js
@@ -32,10 +32,11 @@ function t_string(value) {
 
 /**
  * @param {import('estree').Expression} value
+ * @param {boolean} [needs_escaping]
  * @returns {import('./types').TemplateExpression}
  */
-function t_expression(value) {
-	return { type: 'expression', value };
+function t_expression(value, needs_escaping = false) {
+	return { type: 'expression', value, needs_escaping };
 }
 
 /**
@@ -94,7 +95,8 @@ function serialize_template(template, out = b.id('out')) {
 			} else if (template_item.type === 'expression') {
 				const value = template_item.value;
 				if (value.type === 'TemplateLiteral') {
-					last.value.raw += sanitize_template_string(value.quasis[0].value.raw);
+					const raw = value.quasis[0].value.raw;
+					last.value.raw += template_item.needs_escaping ? sanitize_template_string(raw) : raw;
 					quasis.push(...value.quasis.slice(1));
 					expressions.push(...value.expressions);
 					continue;
@@ -198,7 +200,7 @@ function process_children(nodes, parent, { visit, state }) {
 			}
 		}
 
-		state.template.push(t_expression(b.template(quasis, expressions)));
+		state.template.push(t_expression(b.template(quasis, expressions), true));
 	}
 
 	for (let i = 0; i < nodes.length; i += 1) {
diff --git a/packages/svelte/src/compiler/phases/3-transform/server/types.d.ts b/packages/svelte/src/compiler/phases/3-transform/server/types.d.ts
index b982c1e0c095..7f38932807e0 100644
--- a/packages/svelte/src/compiler/phases/3-transform/server/types.d.ts
+++ b/packages/svelte/src/compiler/phases/3-transform/server/types.d.ts
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import type { ComponentAnalysis } from '../../types.js';
 export type TemplateExpression = {
 	type: 'expression';
 	value: Expression;
+	needs_escaping: boolean;
 };
 
 export type TemplateString = {
diff --git a/packages/svelte/tests/runtime-runes/samples/html-tag-escaping/_config.js b/packages/svelte/tests/runtime-runes/samples/html-tag-escaping/_config.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..f28077cbfbff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/svelte/tests/runtime-runes/samples/html-tag-escaping/_config.js
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+import { test } from '../../test';
+
+export default test({
+	html: `s s s \\u73`
+});
diff --git a/packages/svelte/tests/runtime-runes/samples/html-tag-escaping/main.svelte b/packages/svelte/tests/runtime-runes/samples/html-tag-escaping/main.svelte
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..52ad0d8d1e24
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/svelte/tests/runtime-runes/samples/html-tag-escaping/main.svelte
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+{@html `\u{73}`}
+{@html '\u{73}'}
+{@html "\u{73}"}
+
+\u{73}