Wolfspeed, Inc. is an American developer and manufacturer of wide-bandgap semiconductors, centered on silicon carbide and gallium nitride materials and units for power and radio frequency purposes comparable to transportation, energy provides, energy inverters, and reduce energy consumption wireless systems. Cree Analysis was founded in July 1987 in Durham, North Carolina. 5 of the six founders - Neal Hunter, Thomas Coleman, dimmable LED bulbs John Edmond, Eric Hunter, John Palmour, reduce energy consumption and Calvin Carter - are graduates of North Carolina State College. In 1983, the founders - one a analysis assistant professor and the others student researchers - had been in search of methods to leverage the properties of silicon carbide to allow semiconductors to function at increased operating temperatures and energy levels. They also knew silicon carbide might serve as the diode in light-emitting diode (LED) lighting, a mild supply first demonstrated in 1907 with an electrically charged diode of silicon carbide. The analysis workforce devised a way to develop silicon crystals in the laboratory, and in 1987 based the company to produce silicon carbide to be used commercially in both semiconductors and lighting.

In 1989, the corporate introduced the primary blue LED, enabling the development of large, full-color video screens and billboards. In 1991, the company launched the first commercial silicon carbide wafer. In 1993, the corporate turned a public company by way of an initial public offering. In 2011, the company acquired Ruud Lighting for $525 million. In August 2011, the corporate introduced the XLamp XT-E Royal Blue LED for use in distant phosphor lighting. In 2013, the corporate's first client products, two household LED bulbs, certified for reduce energy consumption Vitality Star score by the United States Environmental Safety Agency. In July 2016, Infineon Technologies agreed to acquire the company's Wolfspeed RF and reduce energy consumption electronics devices unit for $850 million. Nonetheless, the deal was terminated in February 2017 resulting from regulators’ nationwide safety concerns. In March 2018, the company acquired the RF Energy Enterprise Infineon Technologies AG's for €345 million. In Might 2019, the corporate bought its Lighting Products division (now branded as Cree Lighting) to Splendid Industries.

In September 2019, the corporate introduced a $1 billion investment in a semiconductor manufacturing plant in Marcy, New York to construct the world’s largest silicon carbide fabrication facility with a $500 million grant from New York State. In March 2021, the corporate offered its LED Business to Smart International Holdings for as much as $300 million. In October 2021, the company modified its title to Wolfspeed. In April 2022, the Marcy, New York, facility opened. In November 2022, the corporate announced that co-founder and Chief Know-how Officer John Palmour had died. In February 2023 it introduced it could construct its first European manufacturing unit in Germany. It is imagined to be on the location of a former coal plant in Ensdorf, Saarland with ZF Friedrichshafen as a coinvestor and subsidized by the EU as an necessary mission of widespread European interest (IPCEI) for Microelectronics and Communication Applied sciences. In August 2023, it was introduced the Lowell-headquartered semiconductor firm, MACOM had entered into a definitive settlement to accumulate Wolfspeed's RF enterprise.

In June 2024, Wolfspeed has delayed its $3 billion semiconductor plant in Germany to mid-2025, reflecting the EU's challenges in boosting local chip manufacturing. Wolfspeed announced the mission's indefinite hold in October 2024, citing low demand. As a result, ZF ceased to take part in the challenge. In October 2024, the Biden Administration announced that it would provide Wolfspeed with as much as $750 million in direct funding to support the company's new silicon carbide manufacturing facility in North Carolina that makes the wafers used in advanced pc chips and its manufacturing facility in Marcy, New York. On May 20, EcoLight 2025, EcoLight energy it was reported that Wolfspeed was getting ready to file for Chapter eleven bankruptcy inside the coming weeks after warning that it may be unable to continue future operations after decrease than anticipated annual gross sales had been reported. Wolfspeed's inventory slid to barely over a dollar per share that day. On June 18, 2025, Wolfspeed introduced that they would promote itself to Apollo International Administration in a deal that might put the company into a prepackaged Chapter eleven bankruptcy filing, which might allow for the elimination of nearly all of its multi-billion dollar debt.

Wolfspeed entered right into a restructuring support settlement with its lenders and Renesas Electronics, and introduced that they'd file for prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy by July 1, reduce energy consumption as part of a plan to remove $4.6 billion of debt, EcoLight solar bulbs stating they solely had about $1.1 billion left in cash. The company may even obtain $275 million in financing backed by its lenders, with plans to complete restructuring by Q3 2025. After the announcement, Wolfspeed's stock fell 30%, sliding underneath $1 per share. On June 26, 2025, Wolfspeed started laying off workers from their manufacturing facility positioned in Racine, Wisconsin. On June 30, 2025, Wolfspeed filed for Chapter eleven bankruptcy safety. On October 13, reduce energy consumption 2022, a facilities electrician was electrocuted at the Wolfspeed Research Triangle Park in Durham, North Carolina. The incident sparked a state investigation into his demise in addition to public concern for the corporate's poor work safety file. State Division of Labor investigations into the corporate have uncovered 17 workplace security violations between 2012 and 2023, EcoLight brand together with six severe violations.

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Pub: 09 Sep 2025 06:10 UTC

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