Institute Of Electrical And Electronics Engineers
Wolfspeed, Inc. is an American developer and producer of wide-bandgap semiconductors, centered on silicon carbide and gallium nitride materials and gadgets for power and radio frequency functions equivalent to transportation, energy supplies, energy inverters, and wireless systems. Cree Analysis was founded in July 1987 in Durham, North Carolina. 5 of the six founders - Neal Hunter, Thomas Coleman, EcoLight John Edmond, EcoLight Eric Hunter, John Palmour, and Calvin Carter - are graduates of North Carolina State University. In 1983, the founders - one a analysis assistant professor and the others scholar researchers - were looking for methods to leverage the properties of silicon carbide to allow semiconductors to function at larger working temperatures and power ranges. Additionally they knew silicon carbide could serve because the diode in light-emitting diode (LED) lighting, a mild source first demonstrated in 1907 with an electrically charged diode of silicon carbide. The analysis crew devised a method to develop silicon crystals within the laboratory, and in 1987 based the corporate to supply silicon carbide for use commercially in each semiconductors and lighting.
In 1989, the corporate introduced the first blue LED, enabling the event of large, full-coloration video screens and billboards. In 1991, the corporate released the first commercial silicon carbide wafer. In 1993, the corporate turned a public company via an initial public offering. In 2011, the corporate acquired Ruud Lighting for $525 million. In August 2011, the company introduced the XLamp XT-E Royal Blue LED to be used in remote phosphor lighting. In 2013, the corporate's first shopper products, two family LED energy-efficient bulbs, certified for Energy Star rating by the United States Environmental Safety Company. In July 2016, Infineon Applied sciences agreed to amass the company's Wolfspeed RF and energy electronics gadgets unit for $850 million. Nevertheless, the deal was terminated in February 2017 on account of regulators’ nationwide safety issues. In March 2018, the company acquired the RF Power Enterprise Infineon Technologies AG's for €345 million. In Could 2019, the company bought its Lighting Merchandise division (now branded as Cree Lighting) to Superb Industries.
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In September 2019, the corporate announced 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 company offered its LED Enterprise to Good Global Holdings for up to $300 million. In October 2021, the corporate modified its name to Wolfspeed. In April 2022, the Marcy, New York, facility opened. In November 2022, the company announced that co-founder and Chief Technology Officer John Palmour had died. In February 2023 it introduced it would build its first European manufacturing facility in Germany. It's purported to be on the site of a former coal plant in Ensdorf, Saarland with ZF Friedrichshafen as a coinvestor and subsidized by the EU as an important venture of common European interest (IPCEI) for Microelectronics and Communication Applied sciences. In August 2023, it was announced the Lowell-headquartered semiconductor firm, MACOM had entered into a definitive agreement 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 local chip production. Wolfspeed introduced the challenge's indefinite hold in October 2024, citing low demand. As a result, ZF ceased to participate in the mission. In October 2024, the Biden Administration introduced that it would provide Wolfspeed with up to $750 million in direct funding to support the company's new silicon carbide factory in North Carolina that makes the wafers used in superior pc chips and its manufacturing facility in Marcy, New York. On Might 20, 2025, it was reported that Wolfspeed was getting ready to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy within the coming weeks after warning that it could also be unable to continue future operations after decrease than anticipated annual sales have been reported. Wolfspeed's inventory slid to barely over a dollar per share that day. On June 18, 2025, Wolfspeed introduced that they might promote itself to Apollo International Management in a deal that might put the company right into a prepackaged Chapter eleven bankruptcy filing, which would permit for the elimination of the vast majority of its multi-billion dollar debt.
Wolfspeed entered right into a restructuring assist settlement with its lenders and Renesas Electronics, and introduced that they might file for prepackaged Chapter eleven bankruptcy by July 1, as a part of a plan to eradicate $4.6 billion of debt, stating they only had about $1.1 billion left in cash. The company will also receive $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 below $1 per share. On June 26, 2025, Wolfspeed started laying off workers from their manufacturing facility located in Racine, Wisconsin. On June 30, 2025, Wolfspeed filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy safety. On October 13, 2022, a facilities electrician was electrocuted at the Wolfspeed Analysis 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 safety violations between 2012 and 2023, including six critical violations.
