Chipmaker Cree (CREE) changes name to Wolfspeed, strikes deal with GM on battery tech

• Cree Inc shares previously traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, and newly renamed North Carolina-based Wolfspeed now will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "WOLF."

 

Wolfspeed makes chips out of silicon carbide, which is more energy efficient than standard silicon for tasks such as transmitting power from an electric car's batteries to the motors that turn the wheels. That helps boost the vehicle's range. Tesla Inc was an early adopter of the chips, and other vehicle makers are following suit.

But silicon carbide chips are difficult to make because the raw crystalline material has to be grown in special furnaces and processed into chips differently from standard silicon.

Wolfspeed has worked with silicon carbide for 30 years. In addition to making its own silicon carbide chips, Wolfspeed makes about 60% of the world's raw silicon carbide material and supplies it to some of its competitors such as Infineon Technologies, STMicroelectronics and On Semiconductor.