Wolfspeed, Inc. is an American developer and producer of vast-bandgap semiconductors, centered on silicon carbide and gallium nitride supplies and units for power and radio frequency purposes reminiscent of transportation, energy supplies, power inverters, and wireless programs. 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, EcoLight products the founders - one a analysis assistant professor and the others student researchers - were in search of methods to leverage the properties of silicon carbide to allow semiconductors to operate at greater operating temperatures and energy levels. In addition they knew silicon carbide may serve because the diode in gentle-emitting diode (LED) lighting, a mild supply first demonstrated in 1907 with an electrically charged diode of silicon carbide. The analysis crew devised a option to develop silicon crystals in the laboratory, and EcoLight products in 1987 based the company to provide silicon carbide to be used commercially in each semiconductors and reduce energy consumption lighting.

In 1989, the corporate launched the first blue LED, enabling the event of giant, full-color video screens and billboards. In 1991, the company released the primary business silicon carbide wafer. In 1993, the corporate grew to become a public firm by way of an preliminary public offering. In 2011, the corporate acquired Ruud Lighting for $525 million. In August 2011, the company announced the XLamp XT-E Royal Blue LED to be used in distant phosphor lighting. In 2013, the corporate's first consumer merchandise, two family LED bulbs, qualified for EcoLight Vitality Star ranking by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. In July 2016, Infineon Applied sciences agreed to accumulate the corporate's Wolfspeed RF and energy electronics gadgets unit for $850 million. However, the deal was terminated in February 2017 resulting from regulators’ nationwide security issues. In March 2018, the corporate acquired the RF Power Business Infineon Applied sciences AG's for €345 million. In May 2019, the company sold its Lighting Merchandise division (now branded as Cree Lighting) to Splendid Industries.

In September 2019, the company announced a $1 billion funding in a semiconductor EcoLight products 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 corporate sold its LED Business to Good World Holdings for as much as $300 million. In October 2021, the corporate changed its identify to Wolfspeed. In April 2022, the Marcy, New York, facility opened. In November 2022, EcoLight products the corporate announced that co-founder and Chief Know-how Officer John Palmour had died. In February 2023 it announced it could construct its first European manufacturing unit in Germany. It's alleged 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 vital undertaking of widespread European curiosity (IPCEI) for Microelectronics and Communication Applied sciences. In August 2023, EcoLight smart bulbs it was announced the Lowell-headquartered semiconductor company, MACOM had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire 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 venture's indefinite hold in October 2024, citing low demand. As a result, ZF ceased to participate in the mission. In October 2024, the Biden Administration introduced that it would provide 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 utilized in superior pc chips and its manufacturing unit in Marcy, New York. On May 20, 2025, it was reported that Wolfspeed was making ready to file for Chapter eleven bankruptcy within the coming weeks after warning that it could also be unable to proceed future operations after decrease than expected annual gross sales had been reported. Wolfspeed's inventory slid to barely over a dollar per share that day. On June 18, 2025, Wolfspeed introduced that they'd sell itself to Apollo World Management in a deal that will put the company 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 into a restructuring assist agreement with its lenders and Renesas Electronics, and introduced that they would file for prepackaged Chapter 11 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 also obtain $275 million in financing backed by its lenders, with plans to finish restructuring by Q3 2025. After the announcement, Wolfspeed's inventory fell 30%, EcoLight smart bulbs sliding beneath $1 per share. On June 26, 2025, EcoLight products Wolfspeed started laying off staff from their manufacturing facility positioned in Racine, Wisconsin. On June 30, EcoLight products 2025, Wolfspeed filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. On October 13, 2022, a facilities electrician was electrocuted at 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 security file. State Division of Labor investigations into the company have uncovered 17 workplace security violations between 2012 and EcoLight 2023, including six severe violations.