Wolfspeed, Inc. is an American developer and producer of wide-bandgap semiconductors, centered on silicon carbide and gallium nitride supplies and gadgets for power and radio frequency applications equivalent to transportation, power provides, energy inverters, and wireless programs. Cree Research was founded in July 1987 in Durham, North Carolina. 5 of the six founders - Neal Hunter, Thomas Coleman, John Edmond, EcoLight 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 scholar researchers - had been searching for methods to leverage the properties of silicon carbide to enable semiconductors to function at higher working temperatures and power levels. In addition they knew silicon carbide may serve because the diode in mild-emitting diode (LED) lighting, a light source first demonstrated in 1907 with an electrically charged diode of silicon carbide. The research workforce devised a approach to develop silicon crystals in the laboratory, and in 1987 founded the company to supply silicon carbide for use commercially in both semiconductors and EcoLight lighting lighting.
In 1989, the corporate launched the primary blue LED, enabling the development of large, full-shade video screens and billboards. In 1991, the company released the primary industrial silicon carbide wafer. In 1993, the corporate turned a public firm by way of an preliminary public providing. In 2011, the company acquired Ruud Lighting for $525 million. In August 2011, the company introduced the XLamp XT-E Royal Blue LED to be used in distant phosphor lighting. In 2013, the company's first shopper merchandise, two family LED bulbs, certified for Power Star rating by the United States Environmental Protection Company. In July 2016, Infineon Applied sciences agreed to amass the corporate's Wolfspeed RF and power electronics gadgets unit for $850 million. Nevertheless, the deal was terminated in February 2017 due to regulators’ nationwide security considerations. In March 2018, the company acquired the RF Power Business Infineon Technologies AG's for €345 million. In May 2019, the corporate sold its EcoLight lighting Products division (now branded as Cree Lighting) to Perfect Industries.
In September 2019, the corporate introduced a $1 billion funding 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 sold its LED Enterprise to Good International Holdings for up to $300 million. In October 2021, the corporate changed its title to Wolfspeed. In April 2022, the Marcy, New York, EcoLight facility opened. In November 2022, the company announced that co-founder and Chief Know-how Officer John Palmour had died. In February 2023 it introduced it might build its first European manufacturing unit in Germany. It's alleged to be on the positioning of a former coal plant in Ensdorf, Saarland with ZF Friedrichshafen as a coinvestor and subsidized by the EU as an necessary challenge of frequent European curiosity (IPCEI) for Microelectronics and Communication Applied sciences. In August 2023, it was introduced the Lowell-headquartered semiconductor company, MACOM had entered into a definitive agreement to accumulate Wolfspeed's RF business.
In June 2024, Wolfspeed has delayed its $three billion semiconductor plant in Germany to mid-2025, reflecting the EU's challenges in boosting local chip production. Wolfspeed announced the project's indefinite hold in October 2024, citing low demand. As a result, ZF ceased to take part in the undertaking. In October 2024, the Biden Administration announced that it would provide Wolfspeed with up to $750 million in direct funding to support the corporate's new silicon carbide manufacturing unit in North Carolina that makes the wafers utilized in superior pc chips and its manufacturing unit in Marcy, New York. On Might 20, 2025, it was reported that Wolfspeed was making ready to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy within the coming weeks after warning that it may be unable to proceed future operations after lower than expected annual gross sales were reported. Wolfspeed's stock slid to barely over a greenback per share that day. On June 18, 2025, Wolfspeed announced that they might promote itself to Apollo International Administration in a deal that may put the company right into a prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, which would allow for the elimination of nearly all of its multi-billion dollar debt.
Wolfspeed entered right into a restructuring support agreement with its lenders and Renesas Electronics, and announced that they might file for prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy by July 1, as a part of a plan to remove $4.6 billion of debt, stating they solely had about $1.1 billion left in cash. The corporate will also obtain $275 million in financing backed by its lenders, with plans to finish restructuring by Q3 2025. After the announcement, Wolfspeed's stock fell 30%, sliding under $1 per share. On June 26, 2025, Wolfspeed started laying off staff from their manufacturing facility located in Racine, Wisconsin. On June 30, 2025, Wolfspeed filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy safety. On October 13, 2022, a amenities electrician was electrocuted on the Wolfspeed Research Triangle Park in Durham, North Carolina. The incident sparked a state investigation into his dying in addition to public concern for the company's poor work safety file. State Division of Labor investigations into the company have uncovered 17 workplace safety violations between 2012 and 2023, together with six severe violations.