May 19, 2025
Entertainment Lighting Maker Claypaky Sold Again
After 2 ½ years, ARRI bows out as Asian company steps into spotlight
For the third time in just over a decade, Claypaky will soon have a new owner. And this time, the script reads a little differently.
On May 13, Munich-based ARRI announced it would sell Claypaky — its high-end entertainment lighting subsidiary — to EK Inc., an entertainment lighting player with Chinese manufacturing roots and global ambitions. The deal, expected to close in the coming months, signals a strategic shift not just for Claypaky, but for the industry around it. Where previous owners have trimmed, pivoted, and retreated, EK appears ready to scale.
“Claypaky is a nearly 50-year-old brand rooted in Italian design and globally recognized for its innovation,” said Raymond Chen, CEO of EK Inc. “This acquisition marks the next step in our evolution.”
That language might sound familiar — so might the move itself. Just over two years ago, ARRI acquired Claypaky from ams OSRAM, the Austrian semiconductor firm that had inherited the brand through its 2020 takeover of OSRAM. At the time, ams OSRAM described Claypaky as the last "non-strategic" lighting asset it had yet to divest.
OSRAM’s retreat from entertainment lighting was sweeping. Between 2021 and 2022, the company shed Fluence (sold to Signify), Traxon (sold to Prosperity Group), and Digital Lumens and Encelium (offloaded to private equity). Claypaky was the final chapter in that exit — a company with a legacy too strong to kill outright, but no longer aligned with a strategy centered on photonics and automotive LEDs.
Claypaky Recent Ownership
ARRI’s ownership offered stability, but possibly little growth. While executives pointed to synergies between ARRI’s film lighting expertise and Claypaky’s live entertainment catalog, the integration never went deep. Claypaky kept its operations in Bergamo. The brands may have coexisted more than they converged.
Based in Asia but with growing European presence, EK is a vertically integrated player that’s less concerned with heritage and more interested in reach. The company’s acquisition of Claypaky—and its sister brand ADB—gives it instant credibility in theatrical and architectural lighting, two categories where design and performance still matter.
Claypaky CEO Marcus Graser struck a diplomatic tone: “We part ways with sincere appreciation [to ARRI]... At the same time, we look forward to the opportunities new ownership brings.”
The real opportunity lies in Claypaky’s awkward — but potentially valuable — position in the market. Too premium for budget buyers, too diversified for niche applications, it has long hovered in a middle zone where reputation alone isn’t enough. EK is betting that its supply chain scale and industrial backbone can push the brand into broader territory, especially in fast-growing global markets.
Claypaky’s R&D and manufacturing will remain in Italy, at least for now. But as EK asserts its influence, the question becomes whether a brand steeped in Italian design and slow-burn engineering can thrive inside a structure optimized for speed and volume.
It’s not the first time Claypaky has faced this tension. But it may be the first time its owner is fully committed to resolving it.
