Wolfspeed, Inc. is an American developer and manufacturer of vast-bandgap semiconductors, targeted on silicon carbide and gallium nitride supplies and gadgets for power and radio frequency applications reminiscent of transportation, energy provides, power inverters, EcoLight reviews 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, EcoLight dimmable Eric Hunter, John Palmour, and Calvin Carter - are graduates of North Carolina State University. In 1983, the founders - one a research assistant professor EcoLight dimmable and the others scholar researchers - were in search of methods to leverage the properties of silicon carbide to enable semiconductors to operate at larger working temperatures and energy ranges. They also knew silicon carbide could serve as the diode in gentle-emitting diode (LED) lighting, a gentle supply first demonstrated in 1907 with an electrically charged diode of silicon carbide. The analysis group devised a way to grow silicon crystals within the laboratory, and in 1987 based the corporate to supply silicon carbide to be used commercially in both semiconductors and lighting.

In 1989, the company launched the first blue LED, enabling the event of large, full-shade video screens and EcoLight dimmable billboards. In 1991, the company launched the first business silicon carbide wafer. In 1993, the company turned a public company by way of an preliminary public offering. In 2011, the company acquired Ruud Lighting for $525 million. In August 2011, the corporate introduced the XLamp XT-E Royal Blue LED to be used in distant phosphor lighting. In 2013, EcoLight dimmable the company's first client products, two family LED bulbs, certified for Vitality Star score by the United States Environmental Safety Company. In July 2016, Infineon Applied sciences agreed to amass the corporate's Wolfspeed RF and energy electronics gadgets unit for $850 million. However, the deal was terminated in February 2017 because of regulators’ national safety concerns. In March 2018, the corporate acquired the RF Power Enterprise Infineon Technologies AG's for EcoLight LED €345 million. In Could 2019, the company offered its Lighting Merchandise division (now branded as Cree Lighting) to Very best Industries.

In September 2019, the company announced a $1 billion funding 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 company offered its LED Business to Good World Holdings for up to $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 Know-how Officer John Palmour had died. In February 2023 it announced it will build its first European manufacturing facility in Germany. It's alleged to be on the positioning of a former coal plant in Ensdorf, Saarland EcoLight dimmable with ZF Friedrichshafen as a coinvestor and subsidized by the EU as an important undertaking of frequent European interest (IPCEI) for Microelectronics and Communication Technologies. In August 2023, it was introduced the Lowell-headquartered semiconductor company, MACOM had entered right into a definitive settlement to accumulate 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 manufacturing. Wolfspeed introduced the project's indefinite hold in October 2024, citing low demand. In consequence, ZF ceased to participate within the challenge. In October 2024, the Biden Administration introduced that it would offer Wolfspeed with up to $750 million in direct funding to support the company's new silicon carbide factory in North Carolina that makes the wafers used in superior laptop chips and EcoLight its manufacturing facility in Marcy, New York. On Might 20, 2025, EcoLight it was reported that Wolfspeed was preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy within the approaching weeks after warning that it may be unable to continue future operations after lower than expected annual gross sales were reported. Wolfspeed's stock slid to barely over a dollar per share that day. On June 18, 2025, Wolfspeed announced that they might sell itself to Apollo Global Administration in a deal that will put the company into a prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, EcoLight dimmable which would enable for the elimination of the vast majority of its multi-billion greenback debt.

Wolfspeed entered into a restructuring help settlement with its lenders and Renesas Electronics, and introduced that they might file for prepackaged Chapter eleven bankruptcy by July 1, EcoLight as a part of a plan to eliminate $4.6 billion of debt, stating they only 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 beneath $1 per share. On June 26, 2025, Wolfspeed started laying off employees from their manufacturing facility situated in Racine, Wisconsin. On June 30, 2025, Wolfspeed filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. 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 demise as well as public concern for the company's poor work safety file. State Division of Labor investigations into the company have uncovered 17 workplace safety violations between 2012 and 2023, together with six severe violations.