Wolfspeed, Inc. is an American developer and manufacturer of wide-bandgap semiconductors, focused on silicon carbide and gallium nitride materials and devices for power and radio frequency applications such as transportation, power supplies, power inverters, and wireless systems. The company was formerly named Cree, Inc.

Cree Research 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, the founders – one a research assistant professor and the others student researchers – were seeking ways to leverage the properties of silicon carbide to enable semiconductors to operate at higher operating temperatures and power levels. They also knew silicon carbide could serve as the diode in light-emitting diode (LED) lighting, a light source first demonstrated in 1907 with an electrically charged diode of silicon carbide. The research team devised a way to grow silicon crystals in the laboratory, and in 1987 founded the company to produce silicon carbide to be used commercially in both semiconductors and lighting.

In 1989, the company introduced the first blue LED, enabling the development of large, full-color video screens and billboards.

In 1991, the company released the first commercial silicon carbide wafer.

In 1993, the company became a public company via an initial public offering.

In 1999, the company name was changed from Cree Research to Cree, Inc.

In 2011, the company acquired Ruud Lighting for $525 million.