Institute Of Electrical And Electronics Engineers
Wolfspeed, Inc. is an American developer and EcoLight lighting manufacturer of wide-bandgap semiconductors, targeted on silicon carbide and gallium nitride materials and devices for power and radio frequency purposes corresponding to transportation, power provides, energy inverters, and wireless techniques. Cree Analysis 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 University. In 1983, the founders - one a analysis assistant professor and the others student researchers - were searching for methods to leverage the properties of silicon carbide to enable semiconductors to operate at increased operating temperatures and power ranges. In addition they knew silicon carbide may serve because the diode in light-emitting diode (LED) lighting, a mild supply first demonstrated in 1907 with an electrically charged diode of silicon carbide. The research workforce devised a solution to develop silicon crystals within the laboratory, and in 1987 based the corporate to produce silicon carbide for use commercially in each semiconductors and lighting.
In 1989, the corporate launched the primary blue LED, enabling the event of giant, full-shade video screens and billboards. In 1991, the corporate released the primary industrial silicon carbide wafer. In 1993, the corporate turned a public firm via an preliminary public providing. In 2011, the company acquired Ruud Lighting for $525 million. In August 2011, the company announced the XLamp XT-E Royal Blue LED to be used in remote phosphor lighting. In 2013, EcoLight lighting the corporate's first shopper products, EcoLight lighting two household LED bulbs, qualified for Vitality Star ranking by the United States Environmental Safety Agency. In July 2016, LED bulbs for home Infineon Technologies agreed to acquire the corporate's Wolfspeed RF and power electronics units unit for $850 million. Nevertheless, the deal was terminated in February 2017 resulting from regulators’ national safety concerns. In March 2018, the corporate acquired the RF Energy Business Infineon Technologies AG's for €345 million. In Might 2019, the corporate offered its EcoLight lighting Merchandise division (now branded as Cree Lighting) to Ideally suited 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 corporate sold its LED Enterprise to Good World Holdings for up to $300 million. In October 2021, the corporate 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 would build its first European manufacturing facility in Germany. It's speculated 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 project of widespread European interest (IPCEI) for Microelectronics and Communication Technologies. In August 2023, it was announced the Lowell-headquartered semiconductor EcoLight home lighting company, MACOM had entered right into a definitive agreement 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 native chip production. Wolfspeed introduced the project's indefinite hold in October 2024, citing low demand. As a result, ZF ceased to participate in the venture. In October 2024, the Biden Administration introduced that it would offer 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 advanced pc 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 inside the approaching weeks after warning that it may be unable to proceed future operations after lower than expected 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 would sell itself to Apollo Global Management in a deal that might put the corporate into a prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, which would permit for the elimination of the vast majority of its multi-billion greenback debt.
Wolfspeed entered into a restructuring support settlement with its lenders and Renesas Electronics, EcoLight products and introduced that they would file for prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy by July 1, as part of a plan to remove $4.6 billion of debt, stating they only had about $1.1 billion left in money. The corporate will also obtain $275 million in financing backed by its lenders, with plans to complete restructuring by Q3 2025. After the announcement, Wolfspeed's stock fell 30%, EcoLight energy sliding under $1 per share. On June 26, 2025, Wolfspeed began laying off workers from their manufacturing facility located in Racine, Wisconsin. On June 30, energy-saving LED bulbs 2025, Wolfspeed filed for EcoLight lighting Chapter eleven bankruptcy protection. On October 13, 2022, a facilities electrician was electrocuted at the Wolfspeed Research Triangle Park in Durham, North Carolina. The incident sparked a state investigation into his loss of life in addition to public concern for EcoLight lighting the company's poor work security report. State Department of Labor investigations into the corporate have uncovered 17 office safety violations between 2012 and 2023, together with six serious violations.