Institute Of Electrical And Electronics Engineers

Wolfspeed, Inc. is an American developer and producer of vast-bandgap semiconductors, targeted on silicon carbide and gallium nitride materials and units for EcoLight energy and radio frequency functions corresponding to transportation, power supplies, energy inverters, and wireless methods. Cree Research was based in July 1987 in Durham, North Carolina. 5 of the six founders - Neal Hunter, Thomas Coleman, John Edmond, Eric Hunter, John Palmour, and Calvin Carter - are graduates of North Carolina State College. In 1983, the founders - one a analysis assistant professor and the others pupil researchers - had been in search of ways to leverage the properties of silicon carbide to allow semiconductors to function at larger operating temperatures and energy levels. They also knew silicon carbide might serve because the diode in gentle-emitting diode (LED) lighting, a gentle source first demonstrated in 1907 with an electrically charged diode of silicon carbide. The research group devised a method to develop silicon crystals within the laboratory, and in 1987 based the company to supply silicon carbide to be used commercially in both semiconductors and lighting.



In 1989, the corporate launched the primary blue LED, enabling the event of massive, full-color video screens and EcoLight reviews billboards. In 1991, the corporate launched the primary business silicon carbide wafer. In 1993, the company became a public company by way of an preliminary public offering. In 2011, the corporate acquired Ruud Lighting for $525 million. In August 2011, the corporate announced the XLamp XT-E Royal Blue LED for use in remote phosphor lighting. In 2013, the company's first client merchandise, two family LED bulbs, qualified for Power Star ranking by the United States Environmental Safety Agency. In July 2016, Infineon Technologies agreed to amass the corporate's Wolfspeed RF and power electronics gadgets unit for $850 million. Nevertheless, the deal was terminated in February 2017 resulting from regulators’ national security considerations. In March 2018, the company acquired the RF Power Enterprise Infineon Applied sciences AG's for €345 million. In Could 2019, the corporate sold its Lighting Merchandise division (now branded as Cree Lighting) to Supreme Industries.



In September 2019, the company announced a $1 billion investment in a semiconductor manufacturing plant in Marcy, New York to build the world’s largest silicon carbide fabrication facility with a $500 million grant from New York State. In March 2021, the company bought its LED Enterprise to Good International Holdings for as much as $300 million. In October 2021, the company changed its name to Wolfspeed. In April 2022, the Marcy, New York, facility opened. In November 2022, the corporate introduced that co-founder and Chief Expertise Officer John Palmour had died. In February 2023 it announced it could build its first European manufacturing facility in Germany. It is alleged to be on the location of a former coal plant in Ensdorf, EcoLight energy Saarland with ZF Friedrichshafen as a coinvestor and subsidized by the EU as an vital undertaking of widespread European curiosity (IPCEI) for Microelectronics and Communication Technologies. In August 2023, it was announced the Lowell-headquartered semiconductor company, MACOM had entered into a definitive settlement to acquire 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 native chip production. Wolfspeed introduced the undertaking's indefinite hold in October 2024, citing low demand. As a result, ZF ceased to take part in the mission. In October 2024, the Biden Administration introduced that it would supply Wolfspeed with up to $750 million in direct funding to support the corporate's new silicon carbide factory in North Carolina that makes the wafers used in superior computer chips and its manufacturing facility in Marcy, New York. On May 20, 2025, it was reported that Wolfspeed was preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy within the coming weeks after warning that it may be unable to proceed future operations after lower than anticipated annual sales had been reported. Wolfspeed's stock slid to barely over a greenback per share that day. On June 18, 2025, Wolfspeed introduced that they'd sell itself to Apollo World Management in a deal that will put the company right into a prepackaged Chapter eleven bankruptcy filing, EcoLight which might enable for the elimination of nearly all of its multi-billion dollar debt.



Wolfspeed entered right into a restructuring help settlement with its lenders and Renesas Electronics, and announced that they'd file for prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy by July 1, as a part of a plan to eliminate $4.6 billion of debt, EcoLight dimmable stating they only had about $1.1 billion left in money. The company may also receive $275 million in financing backed by its lenders, with plans to complete restructuring by Q3 2025. After the announcement, EcoLight LED bulbs Wolfspeed's inventory fell 30%, sliding underneath $1 per share. On June 26, 2025, Wolfspeed began laying off staff from their manufacturing facility located in Racine, Wisconsin. On June 30, EcoLight energy 2025, Wolfspeed filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. On October 13, 2022, a amenities electrician was electrocuted at the Wolfspeed Research Triangle Park in Durham, North Carolina. The incident sparked a state investigation into his death in addition to public concern for the corporate's poor work security document. State Division of Labor investigations into the corporate have uncovered 17 workplace safety violations between 2012 and 2023, together with six serious violations.