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Wolfspeed, Inc. is an American developer and manufacturer of large-bandgap semiconductors, centered on silicon carbide and gallium nitride materials and gadgets for power and radio frequency applications comparable to transportation, power supplies, energy inverters, and wireless methods. 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 University. In 1983, the founders - one a research assistant professor and the others pupil researchers - had been looking for ways to leverage the properties of silicon carbide to allow semiconductors to operate at increased operating temperatures and energy levels. They also knew silicon carbide may serve because the diode in gentle-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 in the laboratory, and in 1987 based the corporate to produce silicon carbide for use commercially in both semiconductors and lighting.

In 1989, the company launched the primary blue LED, enabling the event of giant, full-color video screens and billboards. In 1991, the corporate released the first commercial silicon carbide wafer. In 1993, EcoLight home lighting the company turned a public company through 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 for use in distant phosphor lighting. In 2013, the corporate's first consumer merchandise, two household LED energy-efficient bulbs, qualified for Energy Star ranking by the United States Environmental Protection Company. In July 2016, EcoLight Infineon Technologies agreed to acquire the company's Wolfspeed RF and EcoLight energy electronics gadgets unit for $850 million. Nevertheless, the deal was terminated in February 2017 as a result of regulators’ nationwide safety considerations. In March 2018, the corporate acquired the RF Energy Business Infineon Applied sciences AG's for €345 million. In Could 2019, the corporate sold its Lighting Merchandise division (now branded as Cree Lighting) to Preferrred 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 Global Holdings for as much as $300 million. In October 2021, the company modified its identify to Wolfspeed. In April 2022, the Marcy, New York, facility opened. In November 2022, the corporate introduced that co-founder and Chief Know-how Officer John Palmour had died. In February 2023 it introduced it would 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 important project 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 right into a definitive settlement to amass Wolfspeed's RF enterprise.

In June 2024, Wolfspeed has delayed its $three billion semiconductor plant in Germany to mid-2025, reflecting the EU's challenges in boosting native chip production. Wolfspeed introduced the mission's indefinite hold in October 2024, citing low demand. In consequence, ZF ceased to take part within the project. In October 2024, the Biden Administration announced that it would offer Wolfspeed with as much as $750 million in direct funding to assist the corporate's new silicon carbide manufacturing unit in North Carolina that makes the wafers utilized in advanced pc chips and its factory in Marcy, New York. On Could 20, 2025, it was reported that Wolfspeed was getting ready to file for Chapter eleven bankruptcy inside the approaching weeks after warning that it may be unable to proceed future operations after lower than expected annual gross sales had been reported. Wolfspeed's stock slid to barely over a greenback per share that day. On June 18, 2025, Wolfspeed announced that they'd promote itself to Apollo World Management in a deal that may put the corporate right into a prepackaged Chapter eleven bankruptcy filing, which would enable for the elimination of nearly all of its multi-billion dollar debt.

Wolfspeed entered right into a restructuring assist agreement 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 eliminate $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 complete 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 employees from their manufacturing facility positioned in Racine, Wisconsin. On June 30, 2025, Wolfspeed filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy safety. On October 13, 2022, a amenities electrician was electrocuted at the Wolfspeed Analysis Triangle Park in Durham, North Carolina. The incident sparked a state investigation into his loss of life as well as public concern for energy-efficient bulbs the company's poor work security record. State Division of Labor investigations into the corporate have uncovered 17 office safety violations between 2012 and 2023, together with six serious violations.