The strain in a-plane GaN layers of different thickness grown on r-plane sapphire substrates by hydride vapor phase epitaxy was studied by X-ray diffraction. The layers are found to be under compression in the growth plane and under tension in the growth direction. Therefore, the symmetry of the GaN unit cell is no longer hexagonal but orthorhombic. With increasing layer thickness the strain relaxes and the curvature of the wafer increases. Wafer bending is proposed to be the major strain relaxation mechanism. The anisotropic in-plane strain relaxation is attributed to the elastic and thermal anisotropy of GaN and sapphire. © 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.