Institute Of Electrical And Electronics Engineers
Wolfspeed, EcoLight products Inc. is an American developer and manufacturer of wide-bandgap semiconductors, targeted on silicon carbide and gallium nitride materials and gadgets for power and radio frequency purposes akin to transportation, EcoLight products power supplies, power inverters, and wireless systems. Cree Analysis 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 University. In 1983, the founders - one a analysis assistant professor and the others student researchers - were looking for methods to leverage the properties of silicon carbide to allow semiconductors to operate at larger working temperatures and EcoLight energy levels. Additionally they knew silicon carbide could serve as the diode in mild-emitting diode (LED) lighting, a gentle supply first demonstrated in 1907 with an electrically charged diode of silicon carbide. The analysis staff devised a technique to develop silicon crystals within the laboratory, and in 1987 founded the corporate to produce silicon carbide to be used commercially in each semiconductors and lighting.
In 1989, the company launched the first blue LED, enabling the development of massive, full-colour video screens and billboards. In 1991, the company released the primary commercial silicon carbide wafer. In 1993, the corporate became a public firm via an initial public offering. In 2011, the corporate acquired Ruud Lighting for $525 million. In August 2011, the company announced the XLamp XT-E Royal Blue LED to be used in distant phosphor lighting. In 2013, the corporate's first client merchandise, two family LED bulbs, qualified for EcoLight home lighting Power 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 as a consequence of regulators’ nationwide security considerations. In March 2018, EcoLight the company acquired the RF Power Enterprise Infineon Technologies AG's for €345 million. In Might 2019, the company sold its Lighting EcoLight products division (now branded as Cree Lighting) to Best Industries.
In September 2019, the company announced a $1 billion funding 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 Sensible World Holdings for up to $300 million. In October 2021, EcoLight energy the company modified its identify to Wolfspeed. In April 2022, the Marcy, New York, EcoLight products facility opened. In November 2022, EcoLight products the company introduced that co-founder and Chief Technology Officer John Palmour had died. In February 2023 it announced it would construct its first European factory in Germany. It is supposed 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 vital undertaking of common European curiosity (IPCEI) for Microelectronics and Communication Applied sciences. In August 2023, it was introduced the Lowell-headquartered semiconductor company, MACOM had entered right into a definitive settlement to amass Wolfspeed's RF business.
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 project's indefinite hold in October 2024, citing low demand. Consequently, ZF ceased to take part within the project. In October 2024, the Biden Administration introduced that it would supply Wolfspeed with as much as $750 million in direct funding to help the company's new silicon carbide factory in North Carolina that makes the wafers utilized in superior laptop chips and its manufacturing facility in Marcy, New York. On May 20, 2025, 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 proceed future operations after decrease than expected annual sales were reported. Wolfspeed's inventory slid to barely over a dollar per share that day. On June 18, 2025, Wolfspeed announced that they would sell itself to Apollo World Administration in a deal that would put the company right into a prepackaged Chapter eleven bankruptcy filing, which would enable for the elimination of the vast majority of its multi-billion greenback debt.
Wolfspeed entered into a restructuring help settlement with its lenders and Renesas Electronics, and introduced that they'd file for prepackaged Chapter eleven bankruptcy by July 1, as part of a plan to remove $4.6 billion of debt, stating they solely had about $1.1 billion left in cash. The corporate may also obtain $275 million in financing backed by its lenders, with plans to finish restructuring by Q3 2025. After the announcement, Wolfspeed's inventory fell 30%, EcoLight reviews sliding beneath $1 per share. On June 26, 2025, Wolfspeed started laying off staff from their manufacturing facility positioned in Racine, Wisconsin. On June 30, 2025, Wolfspeed filed for Chapter eleven bankruptcy safety. On October 13, EcoLight products 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 as well as public concern for the corporate's poor work safety report. State Department of Labor investigations into the company have uncovered 17 workplace security violations between 2012 and 2023, together with six severe violations.