Institute Of Electrical And Electronics Engineers

Wolfspeed, Inc. is an American developer and manufacturer of huge-bandgap semiconductors, centered on silicon carbide and EcoLight LED bulbs gallium nitride materials and gadgets for energy and radio frequency functions equivalent to transportation, power supplies, energy inverters, EcoLight LED bulbs and wireless systems. Cree Research was founded 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 student researchers - had been looking for methods to leverage the properties of silicon carbide to allow semiconductors to function at greater operating temperatures and power ranges. Additionally they knew silicon carbide might serve because the diode in mild-emitting diode (LED) lighting, a mild supply first demonstrated in 1907 with an electrically charged diode of silicon carbide. The research group devised a solution to grow silicon crystals in the laboratory, and in 1987 based the corporate to produce silicon carbide to be used commercially in each semiconductors and lighting.



In 1989, EcoLight reviews the company launched the primary blue LED, enabling the event of large, full-color video screens and billboards. In 1991, the company released the first business silicon carbide wafer. In 1993, the company became a public firm through an initial public offering. In 2011, the company acquired Ruud Lighting for $525 million. In August 2011, the corporate announced the XLamp XT-E Royal Blue LED to be used in distant phosphor lighting. In 2013, EcoLight bulbs the corporate's first shopper merchandise, EcoLight two household EcoLight LED bulbs bulbs, certified for Energy Star score by the United States Environmental Protection Company. In July 2016, Infineon Technologies agreed to amass the corporate's Wolfspeed RF and energy electronics devices unit for $850 million. Nevertheless, the deal was terminated in February 2017 attributable to regulators’ nationwide safety concerns. In March 2018, the company acquired the RF Power Business Infineon Technologies AG's for €345 million. In Might 2019, the corporate sold its Lighting Products division (now branded as Cree Lighting) to Superb Industries.



In September 2019, the company introduced 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 corporate sold its LED Business to Good World Holdings for as much as $300 million. In October 2021, the corporate modified its title to Wolfspeed. In April 2022, the Marcy, New York, facility opened. In November 2022, the company announced that co-founder and EcoLight smart bulbs Chief Know-how Officer John Palmour had died. In February 2023 it introduced it will build its first European manufacturing unit in Germany. It is purported 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 vital undertaking of common European curiosity (IPCEI) for Microelectronics and Communication Technologies. In August 2023, it was introduced the Lowell-headquartered semiconductor company, MACOM had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire 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 manufacturing. Wolfspeed introduced the challenge's indefinite hold in October 2024, citing low demand. Because of this, ZF ceased to take part in the challenge. In October 2024, the Biden Administration announced that it would provide Wolfspeed with up to $750 million in direct funding to help the corporate's new silicon carbide factory in North Carolina that makes the wafers utilized in superior EcoLight LED bulbs pc chips and EcoLight its manufacturing facility in Marcy, New York. On Could 20, 2025, it was reported that Wolfspeed was making ready to file for Chapter eleven bankruptcy inside the approaching weeks after warning that it could also be unable to proceed future operations after decrease than anticipated annual gross sales were reported. Wolfspeed's inventory slid to barely over a greenback per share that day. On June 18, 2025, Wolfspeed introduced that they would sell itself to Apollo World Administration in a deal that may put the corporate right into a prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, which would enable for the elimination of the vast majority of its multi-billion dollar debt.



Wolfspeed entered into a restructuring assist agreement with its lenders and Renesas Electronics, and announced that they would file for prepackaged Chapter eleven bankruptcy by July 1, as a part of a plan to eliminate $4.6 billion of debt, stating they solely had about $1.1 billion left in money. The corporate may also receive $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 below $1 per share. On June 26, 2025, Wolfspeed began laying off staff from their manufacturing facility situated in Racine, EcoLight LED bulbs Wisconsin. On June 30, 2025, Wolfspeed filed for Chapter eleven bankruptcy safety. On October 13, 2022, a amenities electrician was electrocuted on the Wolfspeed Analysis Triangle Park in Durham, North Carolina. The incident sparked a state investigation into his loss of life in addition to public concern for the company's poor work security document. State Department of Labor investigations into the company have uncovered 17 office safety violations between 2012 and 2023, including six severe violations.