Sofradir and ULIS Merge to Become Lynred

ALA News: French Sofradir and its subsidiary ULIS announce their merger and a new company name: Lynred. Lynred will have a critical mass all-inclusive IR products to the global aerospace, defense, industrial and consumer markets. Its US entity remains a subsidiary and has been renamed Lynred USA.

Lynred's 1,000 employees will provide a range of advanced IR technologies, assure a long-term and reliable product supply, and accompany client projects with the IR design and equipment integration support.

“Lynred will enter the market with a new vision for the future in an increasingly competitive market, which has seen the number of players double over the last five years,” said Jean-François Delepau, chairman of Lynred. “We are the established European leader in infrared technologies. Now, Lynred gives us more punching weight in R&D and increased visibility within the IR ecosystem. Thanks to the commitment of our employees in forming Lynred and increased support from our partners, we will be able to offer new attractive solutions to our customers.”

The world military IR imaging systems market was estimated at $8.5b (approx. €7.6bn) in 2018 and is expected to grow to $14b (approx. €12.5bn) in 2023. Extrapolated market data also indicates that the market for cameras for industrial and consumer applications has the potential to increase from $2.9b (approx. €2.6bn) to $4.1b (€3.7bn) in the same period. This translates to a global potential annual market growth rate of around 10% at camera and system level.

Lynred will advance developments of next generation IR detectors with the €150M ($167.4M) financial investment it is making in the Nano2022 project over the next five years. These IR devices will be designed to address trends in autonomous systems for smart buildings (workspace management, energy savings), road safety and in-cabin comfort of vehicles.

Developments also include the very large dimension IR detectors needed for space and astronomy observations as well as compact and light IR detectors that can be used in portable devices and on drones.

"Our new brand name, Lynred, is inspired by the razor-sharp vision, feline agility, power, and performance embodied by the lynx. The Lynred logo evokes the precision, protection, trust, vision, and cooperative spirit that make our products and company unique. The stylized eye, historically present in our visual communications, marks continuity between our past and our exciting future," said Delepau.