diff --git a/.changeset/wicked-files-brush.md b/.changeset/wicked-files-brush.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c4391ba4dd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/wicked-files-brush.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@backstage/core-plugin-api': patch
+---
+
+Migrated component data attachment method to have better compatibility with component proxies such as `react-hot-loader`.
diff --git a/packages/core-plugin-api/src/extensions/componentData.test.tsx b/packages/core-plugin-api/src/extensions/componentData.test.tsx
index 49a1d59cc4..6f2694a512 100644
--- a/packages/core-plugin-api/src/extensions/componentData.test.tsx
+++ b/packages/core-plugin-api/src/extensions/componentData.test.tsx
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
 import React from 'react';
 import { attachComponentData, getComponentData } from './componentData';
 
-describe('elementData', () => {
+describe('componentData', () => {
   it('should attach a single piece of data', () => {
     const data = { foo: 'bar' };
     const Component = () => null;
@@ -59,4 +59,51 @@ describe('elementData', () => {
       'Attempted to attach duplicate data "my-data" to component "MyComponent"',
     );
   });
+
+  describe('works across versions', () => {
+    it('should should be able to get data from newer versions', () => {
+      const data = { foo: 'bar' };
+      const Component = () => null;
+      attachComponentData(Component, 'my-data', data);
+
+      const element = <Component />;
+      expect((element as any).type.__backstage_data.map.get('my-data')).toBe(
+        data,
+      );
+    });
+
+    it('should should be able to attach data for newer versions', () => {
+      const data = { foo: 'bar' };
+      const Component = () => null;
+      (Component as any).__backstage_data = {
+        map: new Map([['my-data', data]]),
+      };
+
+      const element = <Component />;
+      expect(getComponentData(element, 'my-data')).toBe(data);
+    });
+
+    it('should be able to get data from older versions', () => {
+      const data = { foo: 'bar' };
+      const Component = () => null;
+      attachComponentData(Component, 'my-data', data);
+
+      const element = <Component />;
+      const container = (global as any)[
+        '__@backstage/component-data-store__'
+      ].get(element.type);
+      expect(container.map.get('my-data')).toBe(data);
+    });
+
+    it('should should be able to attach data for older versions', () => {
+      const data = { foo: 'bar' };
+      const Component = () => null;
+      (global as any)['__@backstage/component-data-store__'].set(Component, {
+        map: new Map([['my-data', data]]),
+      });
+
+      const element = <Component />;
+      expect(getComponentData(element, 'my-data')).toBe(data);
+    });
+  });
 });
diff --git a/packages/core-plugin-api/src/extensions/componentData.tsx b/packages/core-plugin-api/src/extensions/componentData.tsx
index 85527950ab..d28d17d8ca 100644
--- a/packages/core-plugin-api/src/extensions/componentData.tsx
+++ b/packages/core-plugin-api/src/extensions/componentData.tsx
@@ -21,24 +21,42 @@ type DataContainer = {
   map: Map<string, unknown>;
 };
 
-type MaybeComponentNode = ReactNode & {
-  type?: ComponentType<any>;
-};
-
-// The store is bridged across versions using the global object
+// This method of storing the component data was deprecated in September 2021, it
+// will be removed in the future for the reasons described below.
 const globalStore = getOrCreateGlobalSingleton(
   'component-data-store',
   () => new WeakMap<ComponentType<any>, DataContainer>(),
 );
 
+// This key is used to attach component data to the component type (function or class)
+// itself. This method is used because it has better compatibility component wrappers
+// like react-hot-loader, as opposed to the WeakMap method or using a symbol.
+const componentDataKey = '__backstage_data';
+
+type ComponentWithData = ComponentType<any> & {
+  [componentDataKey]?: DataContainer;
+};
+
+type MaybeComponentNode = ReactNode & {
+  type?: ComponentWithData;
+};
+
 export function attachComponentData<P>(
   component: ComponentType<P>,
   type: string,
   data: unknown,
 ) {
-  let container = globalStore.get(component);
+  const dataComponent = component as ComponentWithData;
+
+  let container = dataComponent[componentDataKey] ?? globalStore.get(component);
   if (!container) {
     container = { map: new Map() };
+    Object.defineProperty(dataComponent, componentDataKey, {
+      enumerable: false,
+      configurable: true,
+      writable: false,
+      value: container,
+    });
     globalStore.set(component, container);
   }
 
@@ -65,7 +83,7 @@ export function getComponentData<T>(
     return undefined;
   }
 
-  const container = globalStore.get(component);
+  const container = component[componentDataKey] ?? globalStore.get(component);
   if (!container) {
     return undefined;
   }