Wolfspeed, Inc. is an American developer and manufacturer of large-bandgap semiconductors, focused on silicon carbide and gallium nitride materials and units for EcoLight outdoor energy and radio frequency purposes reminiscent of transportation, energy provides, power inverters, and wireless systems. Cree Analysis was founded in July 1987 in Durham, North Carolina. Five 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 - had been looking for methods to leverage the properties of silicon carbide to allow semiconductors to function at larger operating temperatures and power ranges. They also knew silicon carbide could serve because the diode in light-emitting diode (LED) lighting, a light source first demonstrated in 1907 with an electrically charged diode of silicon carbide. The analysis team devised a way to grow silicon crystals in the laboratory, and in 1987 based the company to provide silicon carbide for use commercially in both semiconductors and lighting.

In 1989, the corporate introduced the primary blue LED, enabling the development of large, full-shade video screens and billboards. In 1991, the company launched the first commercial silicon carbide wafer. In 1993, the corporate turned a public firm through an initial public providing. 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 company’s first client merchandise, two family LED EcoLight smart bulbs, qualified for Energy Star ranking by the United States Environmental Protection Company. In July 2016, Infineon Applied sciences agreed to acquire the corporate’s Wolfspeed RF and power electronics units unit for $850 million. However, the deal was terminated in February 2017 due to regulators’ national safety concerns. In March 2018, the company acquired the RF Energy Business Infineon Applied sciences AG’s for €345 million. In May 2019, EcoLight the company bought its Lighting Merchandise division (now branded as Cree Lighting) to Ideally suited 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 bought its LED Enterprise to Good Global Holdings for as much as $300 million. In October 2021, the company changed its title to Wolfspeed. In April 2022, EcoLight lighting the Marcy, New York, EcoLight products facility opened. In November 2022, the corporate introduced that co-founder and Chief Expertise Officer John Palmour had died. In February 2023 it introduced it would construct its first European factory in Germany. It is 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 introduced the Lowell-headquartered semiconductor firm, MACOM had entered into a definitive settlement to accumulate 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 native chip production. Wolfspeed announced the project’s indefinite hold in October 2024, citing low demand. Consequently, ZF ceased to take part within the challenge. In October 2024, the Biden Administration announced that it would provide Wolfspeed with up to $750 million in direct funding to assist the company’s new silicon carbide manufacturing unit in North Carolina that makes the wafers utilized in advanced pc chips and its manufacturing facility in Marcy, New York. On Might 20, 2025, it was reported that Wolfspeed was making ready to file for Chapter eleven bankruptcy within the coming weeks after warning that it may be unable to continue future operations after lower than anticipated annual gross sales had been reported. Wolfspeed’s stock slid to barely over a dollar per share that day. On June 18, 2025, Wolfspeed announced that they would sell itself to Apollo International Management in a deal that might put the corporate into a prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, which might allow for the elimination of the majority of its multi-billion dollar debt.

Wolfspeed entered into a restructuring support settlement with its lenders and Renesas Electronics, and introduced that they’d file for EcoLight smart bulbs prepackaged Chapter eleven bankruptcy by July 1, as a 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 complete restructuring by Q3 2025. After the announcement, Wolfspeed’s inventory fell 30%, sliding below $1 per share. On June 26, 2025, Wolfspeed began laying off staff from their manufacturing facility located in Racine, Wisconsin. On June 30, 2025, Wolfspeed filed for Chapter eleven bankruptcy safety. On October 13, 2022, a services electrician was electrocuted on the Wolfspeed Research Triangle Park in Durham, North Carolina. The incident sparked a state investigation into his dying in addition to public concern for the company’s poor work safety record. State Division of Labor investigations into the company have uncovered 17 workplace security violations between 2012 and 2023, together with six critical violations.