Osram sells Entertainment and Industry lamp division to Ushio!

[Steve Guttag]

As if we, in our "entertainment" industry didn't already know that xenon is a shrinking business, as I'm sure are many other industry lamps, Osram, it would appear, is selling its Entertainment and Industry lamp division, which I believe included cinema xenon lamps to Ushio.

I caught a posting on LinkedIn but I don't see it on their website "news" section yet.




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? Together.
ams OSRAM has signed an agreement to sell its Entertainment and Industry Lamps Business to USHIO Inc.
This strategic acquisition will bring together two industry specialists with a shared commitment to technological excellence and innovation.

By combining our complementary strengths in product innovation, manufacturing, and global market access, we aim to form an even more competitive and resilient company. We strive to serve the needs of our Entertainment and Industry Lamps customers as a trusted and reliable partner.

✅ Our customers will benefit from:
• An expanded and more comprehensive product portfolio
• Enhanced service capabilities closer to key markets
• A shared vision to harness the infinite potential of light to contribute to a healthier, happier, and more sustainable society

✳️ Our current team will remain in place, ensuring continuity and stability for our customers, partners, and employees during the transition.

? Until the closing of the transaction, expected in early 2026, there will be no change in the way we work together. You will continue to receive uninterrupted support and the same high standards of quality and responsiveness you have always experienced.

? We are confident that this step marks a positive and forward-looking transition that will deliver long-term value to our customers and partners.

? Please feel free to contact us at any time if you have any questions.

Marko Haas Jörg Redelberger

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/osram...kGrRPmrSDDNKJ8

[Leo Enticknap]

As if we, in our "entertainment" industry didn't already know that xenon is a shrinking business...

When I attended the LS4K training class a couple of weeks ago, the instructor mentioned in passing that about 65% of screens worldwide still use xenon arc lamps, and that they estimate that this figure is currently decreasing by 2-3% a year as market share moves to laser. If that's true, xenon arc lamps are not going to disappear from our lives any time soon. There are also several other applications for them, e.g. solar simulation (for testing the effects of long term sunlight on car paint jobs, etc.), medical imaging, military searchlights and (live) theater lighting.

I wonder if this merger will result in the consolidation of production facilities (i.e. either Osram or Ushio will close down a production line). In any case, it effectively reduces the number of major vendors in our sector from four to three (now Osram/Ushio, LTI, and Plusrite).

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

I'd much rather buy a xenon product from Ushio than Osram any day. I just hope they can up the lifespan of Osram lamps without hurting Ushio itself.

[Steve Guttag]

I can't imagine Ushio shutting one of their lines down (many are made in the Philippines...the ones with "P" at the end of the serial number). It would be the more expensive German plant that would go, if it comes to that. I think the bigger question is if they keep both line ups. Ushio had already consolidated their xenon lamps down a bit (the UXL-21SCB, I think it was...the 2KW in a 1.6KW package is no more but Osram maintained theirs. ASL has their equivalent with the XM-2000-27HS).

Leo, you need to had ASL to your remaining list of lamp manufacturers.

[Marcel Birgelen]

There's still a considerable market for high-powered xenon lamps, but the market for projection lamps is only shrinking. My problem with this is that I prefer Ushio over Osram. IMHO, Ushio has, by far the more reliable products, especially in the high-performance range. Depending on how they're going to consolidate those businesses, we could end up with Ushio branded Osram products...

[Leo Enticknap]

If Steve's speculation is correct (that lamp production in Germany will cease but the facility in The Philippines will continue to operate), we will end up with Osram-branded Ushio products. We only sell Osram lamps if a customer specifically wants one, and I can only recall one instance in recent memory when I've installed an Osram lamp in that situation. Agreed on Ushio's reliability. I've even occasionally pulled them out after crazy over warranty hours - most recently a DXL-20BAF/L that had done just over 5,000 hours in a residence theater - and they had only just started to flicker.

[Scott Norwood]

Is Superior Quartz still around? Their lamps seemed pretty decent. Agreed that Ushio seems to be the best option now.

[Ryan Gallagher]

What is LTI’s reputation? They are still around and have a great recycling program too (will take any brand lamp).

[Scott Norwood]

LTI was my least-favorite circa 2008-2010. I haven't used it since. The only lamp that I ever had explode on me was an LTI, which did so at half-life. Even the good ones would start to flicker long before the Osrams at that time.

I would hope that their quality has improved since then.

[Jack Ondracek]

Is Superior Quartz still around? Their lamps seemed pretty decent. Agreed that Ushio seems to be the best option now.

Good question. They dropped off my radar after we converted to Barco. Not sure they had a model for them. Their web site does not mention lamps for digital cinema projectors.
Their 7kW lamps for my Strong & Big Sky lamphouses were monsters. Very stable, but I'm not sure they lasted any longer than any other brand.

Leo mentioned Plusrite. They stopped selling direct-to-user a year or two ago... at least over here. I got very good service from those lamps, and they were priced quite reasonably, compared to Ushio, which we've returned to.

[Marcel Birgelen]

I've only really dealt with OSRAM and Ushio lamps. LTI doesn't really seem to be a thing around here. Plusrite made some inroads as the cheaper alternative the last decade or so. Barco deployed OSRAM lamps as a default in their xenon machines, at least over here in Europe. I think Barco and Christie never put the Plusrite lamps on their compatibility list, so they always came with some strings attached.

Philips used to be a thing too, have they also stopped producing Xenon lamps for DCI projectors entirely?

[Steve Guttag]

Philips and LTI are one and the same.

ASL can make a good lamp but none are really in the Ushio bracket (in my opinion, of course). I never worry about Ushios blowing up. It is a concern for Osram and ASL. LTI/Philips have not performed well, in my opinion. They tend to flicker up faster and put out less lumen/watt than Ushio or Osram. I don't have experience with Pulserite.

Osram burned their bridge with me back in the 1980s. They blamed their crappy lamps on everyone and everything but themselves. It was inrush current as to why their lamps flickered up, it was UPS/FedEx as to why their lamps arrived exploded or with the anode rolling around in the envelope. They were also always a PITA on warranty claims, as a result...since it was always someone else's fault. So, we decided to use the 2000W lamp as our test lamp. CXL-20R, XBO-2000W/H, XM-2000HV/C (or whatever ORC was calling it then...ORC became Perkin Elmer and then ASL) and ran them in our various systems at K-B. It wasn't a close call...the Christie (Ushio) lamps were just better in all respects. They didn't arrive exploded...they didn't flicker up...heck...they didn't darken. They just worked. The only thing that Christie/Ushio lamps did, on rare occasion, was outgas. I'll take outgas to explosion every time (and it doesn't happen very often at all). I never looked back.

Yes, Barco shipped their xenon machines with Osrams. And, when they exploded, they had us argue with Osram about warranty (including the reflector)...again, they were a PITA company that just wanted to supply company credit instead of covering the cost of the lamp and reflector set. After that, we stopped even supplying Barco projectors with the time-bomb lamps and started our customers with Ushio and never looked back. Those that used Osram, particularly 10ish or so years ago, had to live through the fact that Osrams, between 500-1000 hours would become hard striking. I can't fix that. The current ones haven't had that problem but a lot of them did. Ushio...never had that problem.

The only Ushio lamps that I've had issues with going the distance are the bigger ones for the Christie CP2210 (CDXL-20SD and some CDXL-18SD). The grey stuff on the anode stem flakes off and the lamp seems to just not get the hours before flickering. I'm sure it has to do with how poorly that projector cools its lamps. And, for reference, where we experienced this problem, on multiple projectors...DOES have the external exhaust adapter option with real exhaust.

[Leo Enticknap]

I wish LTI well, because they are a local company to us: their factory is in Baldwin Park, CA (close to the interchange between the 210 and 605 freeways), pretty much equidistant from my home and office. I serviced a projector that they use for QC there once, and they were kind enough to give me a tour of their manufacturing facility. The people who make these things have to go through what is essentially a 10 to 15 year apprenticeship, and need a similarly specialized skill set to the makers of Swiss watches and other high precision instruments. If the movie theater industry does eventually walk away from xenon arc lamps, I hope that the other markets for them will be enough to keep LTI in business. And companies like LTI are exactly what the Inland Empire's economy desperately needs: jobs that are highly skilled and AI-proof, that enable us to diversify away from the warehousing/logistics, healthcare, and local/regional government jobs that currently dominate our region. Most of those jobs are highly vulnerable to growth of physical automation (e.g. robots in Amazon warehouses), AI, or political factors such as shrinking public sector budgets, and in some cases all three.

That having been said, I've only installed a handful of LTI lamps in almost a decade as a service tech. Unless a customer specifically asks for something else or the Ushio option isn't immediately available (e.g. out of stock), we will quote for Ushio if someone comes to us simply asking for a lamp. That policy is not my decision, but I'm guessing that Ushio's industry-leading reliability is the reason. The one regular customer I service who does ask for Osram does so because he has the adapter needed for the Osram model in his Barco, has never had any problem with them, and doesn't want to get into the weeds of an adapter nightmare changing brands. He uses 2kW lamps, and the ones I've installed have always lasted to warranty hours without any flicker or other problems.

Maybe the tariffs will help LTI, in the short term at least.

[Marcel Birgelen]

So, are the Philips lamps we have over here produced by LTI or do they have their own production over in Europe? I know that Philips is largely a brand and IP licensing company nowadays. Any consumer light branded "Philips" is probably made by Signify. Any TV branded Philips is made by the same Asian company that also owns AOC... I guess their only real game left is professional medical devices and we all know how well that went the last decade...

The only Ushio lamps that I've had issues with going the distance are the bigger ones for the Christie CP2210 (CDXL-20SD and some CDXL-18SD). The grey stuff on the anode stem flakes off and the lamp seems to just not get the hours before flickering. I'm sure it has to do with how poorly that projector cools its lamps. And, for reference, where we experienced this problem, on multiple projectors...DOES have the external exhaust adapter option with real exhaust.

That grey stuff, I believe, is tantalum. Not sure why the anode, mostly made from tungsten, needs a tantalum wrapper at the base, but I guess the stuff is there for a reason. It does have another CTE than tungsten, so heat issues could explain it flaking off.

[Tj Hopland]

Does anyone know if Osram is the only one that has an almost fully automated manufacturing process? I remember them making a big deal about that when they did it 15-20 years ago. If their line is automated and Ushio's is not that could make a difference on production costs and which facilities they keep or phase out.

If others are still depending on a mostly hand process that is going to require skilled people and that cost money even if its being done in a country that typically has low wages. On the other hand since Osram's machines have been constantly cranking out lamps for 15+ years are they getting due for a major overhaul and or replacement soon? With demand decreasing may not be worth investing in the machines.

Guess we will see what happens over the next few years.