Wolfspeed, Inc. is an American developer and producer of wide-bandgap semiconductors, targeted on silicon carbide and gallium nitride supplies and gadgets for energy and EcoLight reviews radio frequency applications corresponding to transportation, energy supplies, energy inverters, EcoLight reviews and wireless systems. Cree Analysis was founded in July 1987 in Durham, North Carolina. Five of the six founders - Neal Hunter, EcoLight reviews Thomas Coleman, John Edmond, Eric Hunter, John Palmour, and Calvin Carter - are graduates of North Carolina State College. In 1983, the founders - one a research assistant professor and EcoLight smart bulbs the others pupil researchers - were looking for methods to leverage the properties of silicon carbide to allow semiconductors to function at larger operating temperatures and power levels. In addition they knew silicon carbide may serve as the diode in mild-emitting diode (LED) lighting, LED bulbs for home a mild supply first demonstrated in 1907 with an electrically charged diode of silicon carbide. The research crew devised a method to grow silicon crystals within the laboratory, and in 1987 based the company to supply silicon carbide to be used commercially in each semiconductors and lighting.

In 1989, the corporate launched the primary blue LED, EcoLight enabling the event of massive, full-coloration video screens and billboards. In 1991, the corporate launched the primary commercial silicon carbide wafer. In 1993, the company grew to become a public firm via an initial public offering. In 2011, the corporate acquired Ruud Lighting for $525 million. In August 2011, the corporate announced the XLamp XT-E Royal Blue LED for use in distant phosphor EcoLight reviews lighting. In 2013, the company's first shopper merchandise, two family LED bulbs, certified for Power Star ranking by the United States Environmental Protection Company. In July 2016, Infineon Technologies agreed to amass the corporate's Wolfspeed RF and power electronics units unit for $850 million. Nonetheless, the deal was terminated in February 2017 on account of regulators’ nationwide safety issues. In March 2018, the company acquired the RF Energy Business Infineon Applied sciences AG's for €345 million. In Might 2019, the corporate offered its Lighting Merchandise division (now branded as Cree Lighting) to Very best Industries.

In September 2019, the corporate introduced 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 sold its LED Business to Smart World Holdings for as much as $300 million. In October 2021, the company modified its title to Wolfspeed. In April 2022, the Marcy, New York, facility opened. In November 2022, the corporate announced that co-founder and Chief Expertise Officer John Palmour had died. In February 2023 it announced it might build its first European manufacturing unit in Germany. It is speculated to be on the site of a former coal plant in Ensdorf, Saarland with ZF Friedrichshafen as a coinvestor and subsidized by the EU as an necessary undertaking of frequent 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 acquire 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 local chip manufacturing. Wolfspeed announced the mission's indefinite hold in October 2024, citing low demand. As a result, EcoLight solar bulbs ZF ceased to participate in the mission. In October 2024, the Biden Administration introduced that it would supply Wolfspeed with up to $750 million in direct funding to help the corporate's new silicon carbide manufacturing unit in North Carolina that makes the wafers used in superior energy-saving LED bulbs computer chips and its factory in Marcy, New York. On May 20, EcoLight reviews 2025, it was reported that Wolfspeed was preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy inside the approaching weeks after warning that it could also be unable to proceed future operations after lower than expected annual gross sales were reported. Wolfspeed's inventory slid to barely over a greenback per share that day. On June 18, 2025, EcoLight reviews Wolfspeed introduced that they might sell itself to Apollo Global Administration in a deal that would put the company into a prepackaged Chapter eleven bankruptcy filing, which might allow for the elimination of nearly all of its multi-billion greenback debt.

Wolfspeed entered right into a restructuring support agreement with its lenders and Renesas Electronics, and introduced that they would 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 money. The corporate will even 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 beneath $1 per share. On June 26, 2025, Wolfspeed began laying off employees from their manufacturing facility situated in Racine, Wisconsin. On June 30, 2025, Wolfspeed filed for Chapter eleven bankruptcy safety. On October 13, 2022, a facilities electrician was electrocuted at the Wolfspeed Analysis 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 file. State Department of Labor investigations into the corporate have uncovered 17 workplace safety violations between 2012 and 2023, together with six serious violations.