• Wolfspeed (WOLF.N) receive $750 million in government grants for its new North Carolina silicon carbide wafer manufacturing plant facility.
  • The new financing support Wolfspeed’s long term goal and expect to receive $1 billion cash tax refund.
  • The company’s stock slumped three quarter due to a sharp slow-down on EV demand.

What happen

Wolfspeed, an American company that develops and produces wide-band gap semiconductors. The company specializes in chipmaking using silicon carbide and gallium nitride materials, and devices for radio frequency and power applications. In 2022, Wolfspeed announced plans to build a new silicon carbide wafer facility in Chatham County, North Carolina, spanning two million square feet and costing billions of dollars.

The company recently, receive $750 million government fund. The new financing will support the new North Carolina silicon carbide wafer manufacturing plant facility. The investment serve the long term goal of expanding for company’s silicon carbide device manufacturing facility within the US.

Earlier, the company expressed confidence that it will be able to provide wafers from the plant by summer 2025 to meet its own chip manufacturing requirements. The $52.7 billion semiconductor production and research subsidy program’s award is pending finalization and is subject to due diligence.

Also read: Biden administration finalises first chips act award to Polar Semiconductor

Also read: Chips JU initiates $223M call for quantum technology advancements

Why it’s important

As a company that specialize the chip production using renewable materials like silicon carbide and gallium nitride materials. Silicon carbide chips enables vehicle to move 5%-15% faster than traditional silicon. The massive funding Wolfspeed receives will boost its EV and AI growth plans. The investment will also backing the building of company’s silicon carbide device manufacturing facilities within the country.

The United States is seeking to enhance its own chip manufacture to strengthen national security. Solar battery storage systems, artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, electric vehicles (EVs), and other applications all use those processors. However the support to speed up EV adoption might be a polarizing election issue. Wolfspeed agreed to invest $5 billion and create more than 1,800 jobs at the upcoming Chatham County plant as part of a state economic incentive agreement. The preliminary funding agreement requires Wolfspeed “to take additional steps to strengthen its balance sheet to better protect taxpayer funds”, it said.

“We believe today’s announcement is a testament to the market-leading quality of Wolfspeed products and significance of Wolfspeed to broader U.S. economic and national security interests,” Wolfspeed CEO Gregg Lowe said in a statement.