Manufacturing · Profile from Manufacturing Research Companion: Companies, Strategic Moves, and Technical Studies
Wolfspeed
The Durham, North Carolina silicon-carbide (SiC) company that began as Cree, the LED pioneer, sold its LED business in 2021 to become a pure-play maker of SiC wafers and power chips for electric vehicles, built the world's first 200 mm SiC device fab in Mohawk Valley, New York, and a giant materials plant at Siler City, North Carolina — and then reorganised in Chapter 11 in 2025. Its manufacturing story turns on building capacity ahead of an EV demand curve that flattened: capital not matched to the cycle. Wolfspeed financed a multi-billion-dollar build-out with convertible notes, a ~$2bn customer deposit from Renesas (from memory, verify) and the expectation of public support — ~$750m of CHIPS preliminary terms (Oct 2024) that were never finalised — while EV growth slowed, Chinese SiC substrate makers cut prices and its new fab ramped slowly. It filed a prepackaged Chapter 11 on 30 Jun 2025 in the Southern District of Texas and emerged on 29 Sep 2025 with ~70% (~$4.6bn) of its debt eliminated (Shared facts). The plants kept running; the old shareholders kept 5%.
At a glance
- Founded
- Cree founded 1987 in Durham, North Carolina, by North Carolina State University researchers including John Palmour (from memory, verify); renamed Wolfspeed after the LED sale (2021; month from memory, verify)
- Headquarters
- Durham, North Carolina
- Ownership / structure
- Public (NYSE: WOLF, from memory, verify listing venue). After the 2025 reorganisation: former convertible-note holders and Renesas own most of the equity; legacy shareholders received 5% (3% at emergence, 2% held in escrow and released after CFIUS cleared Renesas's shares on 30 Jan 2026); Renesas received 16,852,372 shares and a board seat; ~45.1m shares outstanding after the issuance (company release, 30 Jan 2026)
- Leadership (2026)
- Robert Feurle, CEO since 1 May 2025 (announced 27 Mar 2025; formerly at Micron, ams Osram and Infineon, reported); Thomas Werner, chairman (executive chair during the CEO search after Gregg Lowe's removal in Nov 2024)
- Products
- SiC substrates (bare wafers, 150 mm and 200 mm) sold to other chipmakers; SiC power devices (MOSFETs, diodes) and modules for EV inverters and on-board chargers, industrial drives, renewable-energy inverters and data-centre power supplies; produced a single-crystal 300 mm SiC wafer (reported, 2025, verify date)
- Plants
- Mohawk Valley Fab, Marcy, New York (200 mm SiC devices); The JP (John Palmour Manufacturing Center for Silicon Carbide), Siler City, North Carolina (crystal growth and substrates); Durham materials operations; the Durham 150 mm device fab being closed with production moved to Mohawk Valley (announced 2024, reported)
- Scale
- Fiscal Q4 2026 (quarter to late Jun 2026, reported 19 Aug 2026): revenue $149.6m (vs $197.0m), net loss $145.4m (vs $669.3m); Q1 FY2027 guidance $140–160m with adjusted gross margin still negative (company, reported). Fiscal Q1 2026 (reported 29 Oct 2025): revenue ~$197m, of which Mohawk Valley ~$97m (vs ~$49m); non-GAAP gross margin −26% (company, reported). ~$1.3bn of cash and short-term investments at end of fiscal Q2 2026 (Reuters, Shared facts)
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- Infineon sale blocked by CFIUS (2016–17); Mohawk Valley 200 mm fab (2019–22); LED sale and the SiC pure-play (2021); the Renesas deposit and the JP materials plant (2022–23); the Saarland fab with ZF shelved (2023–24); CHIPS preliminary terms never finalised (2024–25); Gregg Lowe's removal and the Durham fab closure (2024); Chapter 11 and emergence (2025)
8 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
2017
Infineon Sale Blocked by CFIUS
Divestment (blocked); regulatory action (CFIUS)
2019
Mohawk Valley 200mm Fab
New plant (greenfield); technology bet (first 200 mm SiC device fab)
2021
LED Sale and the Silicon Carbide Pure Play
Divestment; strategy pivot; rename
2023
Renesas Deposit and the JP Materials Plant
Customer contract (long-term wafer supply with a prepayment); new plant (materials)
2023
Saarland Fab with ZF Shelved
New plant (greenfield, Europe) — abandoned
2024
CHIPS Preliminary Terms Never Finalised
Government award (preliminary, not completed); tax credits
2024
Lowe Ousted and the Durham Fab Closure
Restructuring; footprint consolidation (150 mm fab closure); leadership change
2025
Chapter 11 and Emergence
Restructuring or bankruptcy (prepackaged Chapter 11) — failure of the capital structure