Wolfspeed, EcoLight solar bulbs Inc. is an American developer and producer of extensive-bandgap semiconductors, EcoLight LED focused on silicon carbide and EcoLight solar bulbs gallium nitride materials and devices for energy and radio frequency functions such as transportation, energy provides, 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 College. In 1983, the founders - one a analysis assistant professor and the others pupil researchers - were in search of ways to leverage the properties of silicon carbide to allow semiconductors to operate at higher working temperatures and power ranges. Additionally they knew silicon carbide might 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 research team devised a option to develop silicon crystals in the laboratory, and in 1987 based the corporate to produce silicon carbide for use commercially in both semiconductors and lighting.

In 1989, the corporate launched the first blue LED, enabling the development of large, EcoLight solar bulbs full-shade video screens and billboards. In 1991, EcoLight the corporate launched the first commercial silicon carbide wafer. In 1993, the company grew to become a public company via an preliminary public providing. In 2011, EcoLight solar bulbs the corporate 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 household LED EcoLight solar bulbs, EcoLight qualified for EcoLight dimmable Energy Star rating by the United States Environmental Safety Company. In July 2016, Infineon Applied sciences agreed to amass 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 considerations. In March 2018, the company acquired the RF Power Enterprise Infineon Technologies AG's for €345 million. In May 2019, EcoLight the company sold its Lighting Products division (now branded as Cree Lighting) to Perfect Industries.

In September 2019, the corporate 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 offered its LED Enterprise to Sensible Global Holdings for up to $300 million. In October 2021, EcoLight solar bulbs the company changed its title to Wolfspeed. In April 2022, the Marcy, New York, facility opened. In November 2022, the corporate introduced that co-founder and Chief Expertise Officer John Palmour had died. In February 2023 it announced it might construct its first European manufacturing unit in Germany. It is supposed 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 common European interest (IPCEI) for Microelectronics and Communication Applied sciences. In August 2023, it was announced the Lowell-headquartered semiconductor company, MACOM had entered into a definitive settlement to acquire Wolfspeed's RF enterprise.

In June 2024, Wolfspeed has delayed its $three billion semiconductor plant in Germany to mid-2025, reflecting the EU's challenges in boosting native chip production. Wolfspeed announced the venture's indefinite hold in October 2024, citing low demand. Because of this, ZF ceased to participate within the mission. In October 2024, the Biden Administration introduced that it would offer 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 used in superior 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 11 bankruptcy inside the coming weeks after warning that it may be unable to proceed future operations after lower than anticipated annual sales were reported. Wolfspeed's stock slid to barely over a dollar per share that day. On June 18, 2025, Wolfspeed introduced that they would sell itself to Apollo International Management in a deal that may put the company right into a prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, which might allow for the elimination of the majority of its multi-billion greenback debt.

Wolfspeed entered into a restructuring support settlement with its lenders and Renesas Electronics, and introduced that they'd file for prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy by July 1, as part of a plan to remove $4.6 billion of debt, stating they only had about $1.1 billion left in money. The corporate may also receive $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 under $1 per share. On June 26, 2025, Wolfspeed began laying off workers from their manufacturing facility located in Racine, Wisconsin. On June 30, 2025, Wolfspeed filed for Chapter eleven 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 loss of life as well as public concern for the company's poor work safety record. State Department of Labor investigations into the corporate have uncovered 17 workplace security violations between 2012 and 2023, including six critical violations.