A process for producing an electrode for high-pressure discharge lamps, at least the discharge-side section of the electrode being produced from a prefabricated tungsten wire, which is shortened to the required length during the production process of the electrode and subjected to an annealing process as well as being mounted on other components of the electrode that may be present. The annealing process is carried out exclusively at temperatures below 1500 degrees Celsius. The invention also relates to an electrode for high-pressure discharge lamps, at least the discharge-side section of the electrode being constructed as a tungsten rod that has a long crystalline structure or an isotropic crystalline structure with grain diameters in the radial direction of the tungsten rod of less than or equal to 50 micrometers with the centroid of the grain size distribution in the range from 10 micrometers to 20 micrometers.