Wolfspeed, Inc. is an American developer and producer of huge-bandgap semiconductors, targeted on silicon carbide and gallium nitride supplies and devices for energy and radio frequency purposes resembling transportation, energy supplies, energy inverters, and wireless systems. 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 and the others pupil researchers - have been looking for ways to leverage the properties of silicon carbide to allow semiconductors to function at increased operating temperatures and energy levels. Additionally they knew silicon carbide may serve because 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 staff devised a strategy to grow silicon crystals within the laboratory, and in 1987 founded the company to supply silicon carbide to be used commercially in each semiconductors and lighting.

In 1989, the corporate introduced the primary blue LED, enabling the development of giant, full-coloration video screens and billboards. In 1991, the company released the first industrial silicon carbide wafer. In 1993, the corporate grew to become a public firm via an initial public providing. In 2011, the corporate acquired Ruud Lighting for $525 million. In August 2011, the corporate introduced the XLamp XT-E Royal Blue LED for use in remote phosphor lighting. In 2013, the corporate's first shopper merchandise, two family LED bulbs, certified for Energy Star ranking by the United States Environmental Safety Agency. In July 2016, Infineon Technologies agreed to amass the company's Wolfspeed RF and energy electronics units unit for $850 million. Nonetheless, the deal was terminated in February 2017 because of regulators’ nationwide security considerations. In March 2018, the corporate acquired the RF Power Enterprise Infineon Applied sciences AG's for €345 million. In Might 2019, the corporate bought its Lighting Merchandise division (now branded as Cree Lighting) to Very best Industries.

In September 2019, the company 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 corporate sold its LED Business to Sensible International Holdings for up to $300 million. In October 2021, the corporate changed its identify 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 introduced it will build its first European manufacturing unit in Germany. It's presupposed 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 important project of common European interest (IPCEI) for Microelectronics and Communication Technologies. In August 2023, EcoLight products it was announced the Lowell-headquartered semiconductor firm, MACOM had entered into a definitive agreement to amass 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 local chip manufacturing. Wolfspeed introduced the mission's indefinite hold in October 2024, citing low demand. As a result, ZF ceased to take part in the undertaking. In October 2024, the Biden Administration announced that it would provide Wolfspeed with as much as $750 million in direct funding to assist the company's new silicon carbide factory in North Carolina that makes the wafers used in advanced laptop chips and its factory in Marcy, New York. On Might 20, 2025, it was reported that Wolfspeed was getting ready to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy inside the approaching weeks after warning that it could also be unable to continue future operations after decrease than anticipated annual gross sales were reported. Wolfspeed's stock slid to barely over a greenback per share that day. On June 18, 2025, Wolfspeed announced that they would sell itself to Apollo Global Management in a deal that might put the company into a prepackaged Chapter eleven bankruptcy filing, which might enable for the elimination of the majority of its multi-billion dollar debt.

Wolfspeed entered into a restructuring support settlement with its lenders and Renesas Electronics, and announced that they'd 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 company can even 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%, EcoLight solutions sliding underneath $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 EcoLight products Chapter eleven bankruptcy protection. On October 13, 2022, a services electrician was electrocuted at the Wolfspeed Research Triangle Park in Durham, North Carolina. The incident sparked a state investigation into his death in addition to public concern for the corporate's poor work safety record. State Division of Labor investigations into the company have uncovered 17 office security violations between 2012 and 2023, including six severe violations.