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{{Short description|German lighting manufacturer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2016}}
{{Infobox company
| name = OSRAM Licht AG
| type = [[Subsidiary]]
| traded_as = 
| foundation = {{start date and age|1919|07|01|df=y}} ([[Berlin]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.osram.de/media/resource/HIRES/334234/4886132/geschichte---100-jahre-osram.pdf|title=100 Jahre OSRAM: Licht hat einen Namen|website=Osram.de|access-date=8 September 2018|archive-date=3 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130903043658/http://www.osram.de/media/resource/HIRES/334234/4886132/geschichte---100-jahre-osram.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>)
| founder = 
| location = [[Munich]], Germany
| key_people = 
| industry = [[Semiconductor]] / [[Photonics]]
| products = 
| revenue = 
| operating_income = 
| net_income = 
| num_employees = 
| parent = [[AMS-Osram|ams-OSRAM AG]] (80,3%)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ams-osram.com/news/press-releases/delisting_result|title=
ams OSRAM announces successful delisting offer and forthcoming delisting of OSRAM shares|website=ams-osram.com|access-date=1 April 2023}}</ref> (2020–present)
| subsid = {{ubl|[[Osram Opto Semiconductors GmbH|Osram Opto Semiconductors]]|[[OSRAM Sylvania]]}}
| homepage = {{URL|https://www.ams-osram.com}} {{URL|https://www.osram.com}}
| footnotes = 
}}

'''OSRAM Licht AG''' is a German company that makes [[electric light]]s, headquartered in [[Munich]] and [[Premstätten]] (Austria). OSRAM positions itself as a high-tech [[photonics]] company that is increasingly focusing on [[sensor]] technology, visualization and treatment by light.<ref>{{cite web |date=25 November 2020 |title=#TheNewOSRAM - the high-tech photonics company |url=https://www.osram-group.com/en/our-company/our-mission |website=www.osram-group.com |publisher=OSRAM}}</ref> The company serves customers in the consumer, automotive, healthcare and industrial technology sectors. The operating company of OSRAM is '''OSRAM GmbH'''.

Osram was founded in 1919 by the merger of the lighting businesses of [[Auergesellschaft]], [[Siemens & Halske]] and [[AEG (German company)|Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft]] (AEG). In 1933, Osram helped finance Nazi Party in the 1933 elections with a donation of 40,000 Reichsmarks.<ref>''The Mazal Library'': [https://web.archive.org/web/20120213004041/http://www.mazal.org/archive/nmt/07/NMT07-T0567.htm NMT, Volume VII, pp. 567] (Document NI-391 can be found on pp. 565–568), [https://web.archive.org/web/20120415021424/http://www.mazal.org/archive/nmt/07/NMT07-C001.htm The Farben Case]</ref> Osram was a wholly owned subsidiary of Siemens AG from 1978 to 2013. On 5 July 2013, Osram was spun off from [[Siemens]], and the listing of its stock began on [[Frankfurt Stock Exchange]] on 8 July 2013.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Osram shares begin trading on the Frankfurt and Munich Stock Exchanges |url=https://www.ledsmagazine.com/home/article/16697260/osram-shares-begin-trading-on-the-frankfurt-and-munich-stock-exchanges |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241127055939/https://www.ledsmagazine.com/home/article/16697260/osram-shares-begin-trading-on-the-frankfurt-and-munich-stock-exchanges |archive-date=27 November 2024 |access-date=2025-09-10 |website=www.ledsmagazine.com |language=en |url-status=dead }}</ref> Osram's business with conventional light sources was spun off in 2016 under the name [[Ledvance]] and sold to a Chinese consortium.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.osram-group.com/en/media/press-releases/pr-2016/26-07-2016|title=Ad hoc: Osram finds best owner for lamps business|publisher=OSRAM|date=25 November 2020}}</ref>

After a bidding war<ref>{{Cite news |last=Poltz |first=Jörn |date=2019-08-21 |title=AMS clear to make takeover bid for Osram in potential bidding war |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/business/ams-clear-to-make-takeover-bid-for-osram-in-potential-bidding-war-idUSKCN1VB1C4/ |access-date=2025-09-10 |work=Reuters |language=en-US}}</ref> with [[Bain Capital]], Osram was taken over by Austrian company [[ams AG|AMS]] in July 2020.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.osram-group.com/en/media/press-releases/pr-2019/06-12-2019|title=Osram's Managing Board invites ams to talks about the future|publisher=OSRAM|date=6 December 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.osram-group.com/en/media/press-releases/pr-2019/04-07-2019|title=Osram supports public takeover offer from Bain Capital and The Carlyle Group|publisher=OSRAM|date=4 July 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://ams.com/-/osram-closing|title=ams announces successful closing of the OSRAM acquisition, aims to create a global leader in sensor solutions and photonics|publisher=Ams AG|date=9 July 2020}}</ref> Since then, the company has operated under the name '''[[AMS Osram]]'''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=About us - ams-osram - ams |url=https://ams-osram.com/about-us |access-date=2022-07-28 |website=ams-osram |language=en-US}}</ref> The name is derived from ''[[osmium]]'' and ''Wolfram'', German for [[tungsten]]. Both elements were commonly used for lighting filaments at the time the company was founded.

== History ==
[[File:Osram lamp, 1910, high candle power type (Forty Years of Electrical Progress).jpg|thumb|left|upright|Osram lamp of 1910, high [[candlepower]] type]]
[[File:Osram 1925.JPG|thumb|right|bilingual bond of the Osram company, issued 2 December 1925<ref name=sup>{{cite journal | title = Suppes 94/95 Historische Wertpapiere | journal = Suppes-Katalog für Historische Aktien und Anleihen Historische Wertpapiere; Deutschland, Österreich, Schweiz | year = 1994 | publisher = WWA Bernd Suppes | issn=0936-9406 | page = 264}}</ref>]]
[[File:OSRAMSylvania.jpg|thumb|OSRAM in Markham, Ontario]]
In 1906, the Osram [[incandescent light bulb|incandescent lamp]] was developed by [[Carl Auer von Welsbach]]. The brand name of Osram was first used in 1906 and registered by the Deutsche Gasglühlicht-Anstalt (also known as Auer-Gesellschaft).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.osram.com/osram_com/News/Business_Financial_Press/2006/Press588218.html |title=Anniversary of the trademark on 17 April 2006 |publisher=OSRAM |date=3 April 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101007213106/http://www.osram.com/osram_com/News/Business_Financial_Press/2006/Press588218.html |archive-date=7 October 2010}}</ref>

The British [[General Electric Company plc|General Electric Company]] imported Osram filaments for their own production of light bulbs. In 1919, [[Siemens & Halske|Auergesellschaft, Siemens & Halske]] and [[AEG (German company)|Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft]] (AEG) combined their electric-lamp production with the formation of the company Osram.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://new.siemens.com/global/en/company/about/history/news/siemens-and-osram.html|title=Shining bright – The interlinked history of Siemens and OSRAM|website=Siemens Historical Institute|language=en|access-date=2019-06-06|archive-date=5 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190605145547/https://new.siemens.com/global/en/company/about/history/news/siemens-and-osram.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Following the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, co-founder William Meinhardt and the other Jewish members of the managing board were forced to step down. During the rule of his successor, Hermann Schlüpmann, organisations close to the [[Nazi Party]], such as [[German Labour Front|DAF]], became increasingly influential among the company's workforce.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tschirbs |first=Rudolf |url=https://www.boeckler.de/pdf/p_fomo_hbs_10.pdf |title=Das Phantom der Volksgemeinschaft: ein kritischer Literatur- und Quellenbericht |publisher=Hans Böckler Stiftung |year=2015 |isbn=978-3-86593-201-3 |location=Düsseldorf |oclc=908680843 |access-date=11 May 2020 |archive-date=8 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221108153820/https://www.boeckler.de/pdf/p_fomo_hbs_10.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref>{{rp|112–116}} In March 1933, Osram funded {{Reichsmark|40,000|link=yes}} for a [[Secret Meeting of 20 February 1933|secret campaign fund]] of German industrialists in support the [[Nazi Party]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Entries in the Account "National Trusteeship" Found in the Files of the Delbrueck, Schickter Co. Bank|url=https://phdn.org/archives/www.mazal.org/archive/nmt/07/NMT07-T0567.htm|website=NUERNBERG MILITARY TRIBUNAL Volume VII Page 567|publisher=Mazal Library|access-date=2020-05-11}}</ref>

During [[World War II]], Osram used [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|forced labour]] in their plants in [[Berlin]].<ref>{{citation|surname1=Jacobeit, Sigrid|periodical=Jahrbuch für Geschichte|title=OSRAM-Arbeiterinnen. Deutsche und ausländische Frauen in der Kriegsproduktion für den Berliner Glühlampen-Konzern 1939 bis 1945.|volume=35|at=pp.&nbsp;369-388|date=1987|language=de}}</ref> Due to the bombing of Berlin, production was partially relocated to eastern German cities from 1942 onward. The production of [[molybdenum]] and [[tungsten]] products, which were classified as important for the war effort, was outsourced to the city of [[Plauen]]. Following arrangements between Osram officials and members of the [[Schutzstaffel|SS]], two subcamps of [[Flossenbürg concentration camp]] were installed next to the factory site to secure the company's supply of slave labourers.<ref>{{citation|surname1=Katherine Lukat|title=Zwangsarbeit in Plauen im Vogtland: Lebens- und Arbeitsbedingungen ausländischer Zivilarbeiter, Kriegsgefangener und KZ-Häftlinge im Zweiten Weltkrieg|publisher=Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht|isbn=9783412517427|date=2020|language=de|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tUTWDwAAQBAJ|access-date=2020-05-09}}</ref>{{rp|393}} In a subcamp in [[Leitmeritz concentration camp|Leitzmeritz]], prisoners were used to build underground facilities as part of the secret project ''[[Richard II (factory)|Richard II]]'' to secure the production of molybdenum and tungsten during air raids.<ref>{{citation|surname1=Marc Buggeln, Michael Wildt|title=Arbeit im Nationalsozialismus|date=15 October 2014|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|location=München|at=p.&nbsp;441 |isbn=978-3-486-85884-6 |language=de |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bn3pBQAAQBAJ |access-date=2020-05-09}}</ref>{{rp|362}} At least 4,500 prisoners died in the camp, while Osram never moved into the space due to the course of war.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Kárný|first1=Miroslav|date=1993|title=>>Vernichtung durch Arbeit<< in Leitmeritz. Dei SS-Führungsstäbe in der deutschen Kriegswirtschaft|trans-title=[[Extermination through labor]] in Leitmeritz. The SS leadership in the German war economy.|url=https://www.digizeitschriften.de/dms/img/?PID=PPN884817873_0008%7CLOG_0078|journal=1999: Zeitschrift für Sozialgeschichte des 20. Und 21. Jahrhunderts|issue=4|issn=0930-9977|author-link1=Miroslav Karny|pages=41–42}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1-link=Devin O. Pendas|last1=Pendas|first1=Devin O.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v10yDwAAQBAJ&q=Osram+Leitmeritz&pg=PA491|title=Beyond the Racial State|last2=Roseman|first2=Mark|author2-link=Mark Roseman|author3-link=Richard Wetzell|last3=Wetzell|first3=Richard F.|date=2017|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-16545-8|page=491|language=en}}</ref>

In 1993, [[Osram Sylvania]], a [[North American]] division, was established with the acquisition of [[GTE]]'s [[Osram Sylvania|Sylvania]] lighting division. Osram Sylvania manufactures and markets a wide range of lighting products for homes, business, and vehicles and holds the largest share of the North American lighting market.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Steiner |first=Christopher |date=7 June 2007 |title=Bright Lights, Big Legacy? - Forbes.com |url=http://members.forbes.com/forbes/2007/0723/052.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520200128/http://members.forbes.com/forbes/2007/0723/052.html |archive-date=2011-05-20 |access-date=2025-09-10 |website=members.forbes.com}}</ref> 

In fiscal year 2006, the company achieved sales of about 2&nbsp;billion euros, which comprised 43% of total Osram sales.<ref>{{Cite web |title=OSRAM |url=http://www.osram.com/osram_com/About_Us/The_Company/Facts_%26_Figures.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070516073224/http://www.osram.com/osram_com/About_Us/The_Company/Facts_%26_Figures.html |archive-date=16 May 2007 |access-date=2025-09-10 |website=www.osram.com |language=en |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1998, Osram acquired the lamp business of ECE Industries India for $9.55&nbsp;million. In 2009, Osram acquired Traxon Technologies. In 2011, Osram acquired Siteco. On 8 July 2013 [[Siemens]] spun Osram off, and Osram listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. In 2019, Osram sold Sylvania to [[Wesco International]], Inc.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2006-08-18 |title=Rowabi Lighting |url=https://www.rowabi.com/ |access-date=2025-09-10 |work=www.rowabi.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=WESCO International, Inc. Acquires OSRAM's Sylvania Lighting Solutions|url=http://wesco.investorroom.com/2019-01-16-WESCO-International-Inc-Acquires-OSRAMs-Sylvania-Lighting-Solutions|access-date=2025-09-10|url-status=dead}}</ref> 

On 3 March 2021, [[ams AG]] announced that the Domination and Profit and Loss Transfer Agreement (“DPLTA”) between AMS Offer GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of AMS AG, the parent company of AMS Group, and Osram Licht AG (“Osram”), became effective on that day. The combined company focuses on optical systems and serves the entire value chain including sensing, visualization and illumination, with products ranging from emitters to sensors and software.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ams Domination and Profit and Loss Transfer Agreement with OSRAM in force |url=https://ams.com/-/dplta-effective |access-date=2025-09-10 |website=ams-osram |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Operations==
Osram is a [[multinational corporation]] with headquarters in [[Munich]], with around 34,000 employees throughout the world. Osram has operations in over 120 countries.

In fiscal year 2019, Osram's business model was operationally implemented in three business units: Opto Semiconductors, Automotive and Digital.<ref>{{Cite web| title=Annual Report of OSRAM Licht Group - Fiscal Year 2019 | url=https://www.osram-group.com/~/media/Files/O/Osram/Investor%20Relations/Annual%20Report/2019/2019_en_osram_annual_report.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220119055045/https://www.osram-group.com/~/media/Files/O/Osram/Investor%20Relations/Annual%20Report/2019/2019_en_osram_annual_report.pdf | archive-date=2022-01-19}}</ref>

===Opto Semiconductors===
{{main|Osram Opto Semiconductors GmbH}}
[[File:Osram os.png|thumb|right]]

The Opto Semiconductors Business Unit provides opto semiconductors, which are crucial elements in lighting, visualization, and sensor technology. Osram Opto Semiconductors offers a wide range of LEDs in the low-power, mid-power, high-power, and ultra-high-power classes that are used in general lighting, automotive, consumer, and industrial applications as well as infrared, laser and optical sensors. The main market for these components are the automotive sector, smartphones, wearables, general lighting, lighting for plants, industrial lighting, and projection.<ref>{{Cite web| title=Annual Report of OSRAM Licht Group - Fiscal Year 2019 | url=https://www.osram-group.com/~/media/Files/O/Osram/Investor%20Relations/Annual%20Report/2019/2019_en_osram_annual_report.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220119055045/https://www.osram-group.com/~/media/Files/O/Osram/Investor%20Relations/Annual%20Report/2019/2019_en_osram_annual_report.pdf | archive-date=2022-01-19}}</ref>

===Automotive===
The Automotive Business Unit develops and produces lamps; light modules; and sensors for auto makers and their suppliers and the spare parts [[Automotive aftermarket|aftermarket]].

Up to the beginning of the fiscal year 2019, the automotive and other areas of business comprised the Specialty Lighting Business Unit. As part of a reorganization and the subsequent renaming of the business unit as AM, these other areas of business have been incorporated into the Digital Business Unit.

===Digital===
The Digital Business Unit was established at the start of the fiscal year 2019. It handles all of Osram's business activities that use digital technologies.

The former Lighting Solutions Business Unit was dissolved at the start of the fiscal year 2019. Traxon's business was incorporated into the new Digital Business Unit. The European luminaire business (Siteco) and the North American luminaire service business are reported as discontinued operations.<ref>{{Cite web| title=Annual Report of OSRAM Licht Group - Fiscal Year 2019 | url=https://www.osram-group.com/~/media/Files/O/Osram/Investor%20Relations/Annual%20Report/2019/2019_en_osram_annual_report.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220119055045/https://www.osram-group.com/~/media/Files/O/Osram/Investor%20Relations/Annual%20Report/2019/2019_en_osram_annual_report.pdf | archive-date=2022-01-19}}</ref>

==In popular culture==
* German football manager [[Jupp Heynckes]] was nicknamed "Osram" because his face would sometimes redden under the stress of matches.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.spiegel.de/sport/fussball/0,1518,254225,00.html| title = <nowiki>"Osram"  soll Schalke wieder strahlen lassen</nowiki> | work = Spiegel Online | date = 24 June 2003| access-date = 29 April 2009 | language = de}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[EnOcean]]
* [[Fluorescent lamp]]
* [[Phoebus cartel]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category|Osram}}

{{Siemens}}
{{Glass makers and brands}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Siemens products]]
[[Category:Lighting brands]]
[[Category:German brands]]
[[Category:Manufacturing companies based in Munich]]
[[Category:Electronics companies established in 1919]]
[[Category:1919 establishments in Germany]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Scientific and Technical Academy Award of Merit]]
[[Category:Companies formerly in the MDAX]]
[[Category:Companies formerly listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange]]
[[Category:2020 mergers and acquisitions]]
[[Category:Corporate spin-offs]]