Wolfspeed, Inc. is an American developer and manufacturer of vast-bandgap semiconductors, centered on silicon carbide and gallium nitride materials and units for EcoLight energy and radio frequency purposes resembling transportation, energy supplies, power 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 College. In 1983, the founders - one a analysis assistant professor EcoLight outdoor and the others pupil researchers - were searching for methods to leverage the properties of silicon carbide to allow semiconductors to function at greater working temperatures and energy levels. Additionally they knew silicon carbide may serve as the diode in mild-emitting diode (LED) lighting, a mild source first demonstrated in 1907 with an electrically charged diode of silicon carbide. The analysis group devised a option to grow silicon crystals within the laboratory, and in 1987 based the corporate 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 massive, full-colour video screens and billboards. In 1991, the corporate released the first industrial silicon carbide wafer. In 1993, the corporate turned a public firm via an initial public providing. 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, the corporate's first client merchandise, two family LED bulbs, qualified for Power Star ranking by the United States Environmental Safety Agency. In July 2016, EcoLight products Infineon Technologies agreed to amass the corporate's Wolfspeed RF and power electronics gadgets unit for $850 million. Nonetheless, the deal was terminated in February 2017 because of regulators’ national security issues. In March 2018, the company acquired the RF Power Business Infineon Technologies AG's for €345 million. In Could 2019, the company bought its Lighting EcoLight products division (now branded as Cree Lighting) to Best Industries.

In September 2019, the corporate announced a $1 billion investment in a semiconductor manufacturing plant in Marcy, EcoLight products 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 Business to Smart International Holdings for up to $300 million. In October 2021, the corporate modified its identify to Wolfspeed. In April 2022, the Marcy, New York, facility opened. In November 2022, the company introduced that co-founder and Chief Expertise Officer John Palmour had died. In February 2023 it announced it might construct its first European factory in Germany. It is 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 essential challenge of widespread European curiosity (IPCEI) for Microelectronics and Communication Technologies. In August 2023, it was announced the Lowell-headquartered semiconductor company, MACOM had entered right into a definitive agreement to accumulate Wolfspeed's RF enterprise.

In June 2024, EcoLight home lighting Wolfspeed has delayed its $three billion semiconductor plant in Germany to mid-2025, reflecting the EU's challenges in boosting local chip manufacturing. Wolfspeed announced the venture's indefinite hold in October 2024, citing low demand. Consequently, ZF ceased to take part within the mission. In October 2024, the Biden Administration introduced that it would offer Wolfspeed with as much as $750 million in direct funding to assist the corporate's new silicon carbide manufacturing facility in North Carolina that makes the wafers used in superior EcoLight products pc chips and its factory in Marcy, New York. On Might 20, 2025, it was reported that Wolfspeed was making ready to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy within the approaching weeks after warning that it may be unable to continue future operations after decrease than anticipated annual sales were reported. Wolfspeed's inventory slid to barely over a dollar per share that day. On June 18, EcoLight products 2025, Wolfspeed introduced that they would promote itself to Apollo World Administration in a deal that will put the company right into a prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, which would enable for the elimination of the majority of its multi-billion dollar debt.

Wolfspeed entered right into a restructuring support settlement with its lenders and Renesas Electronics, and announced that they might file for EcoLight brand prepackaged Chapter eleven bankruptcy by July 1, as a part of a plan to eliminate $4.6 billion of debt, stating they solely had about $1.1 billion left in cash. The corporate may even receive $275 million in financing backed by its lenders, with plans to complete restructuring by Q3 2025. After the announcement, EcoLight solutions Wolfspeed's stock fell 30%, sliding below $1 per share. On June 26, 2025, Wolfspeed began laying off staff from their manufacturing facility situated in Racine, Wisconsin. On June 30, 2025, Wolfspeed filed for Chapter 11 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 loss of life in addition to public concern for the corporate's poor EcoLight products work security record. State Division of Labor investigations into the corporate have uncovered 17 workplace safety violations between 2012 and 2023, including six critical violations.