Wolfspeed designs and fabricates silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) power and RF semiconductors. The company also produces SiC and GaN-on-SiC epitaxial wafers. Product families include silicon carbide materials, power-switching devices, and RF devices targeted for applications such as electric vehicles, fast charging, inverters, power supplies, telecom and military and aerospace.
In 2015, Cree separated its Power and RF division into a new company, named Wolfspeed. Cree remained focused on LED and lighting products. Cree was founded in 1987 and released its first SiC wafers in 1991.
In July 2016, Cree entered into an agreement to sell Wolfspeed to Infineon Technologies for $850 million in cash. In February 2017, however, the deal was terminated due to national security concerns of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). Infineon paid Cree a termination fee of $12.5 million.
Instead, in March 2018, Wolfspeed acquired Infineon’s RF Power business for about $430 million. The Infineon unit focused on RF discrete transistors and MMICs for Power Amplifiers for wireless infrastructure using LDMOS and GaN-on SiC technologies.
