Durham, North Carolina, April 24, 2026, 18:01 EDT
Wolfspeed rallied 13.36% to close at $31.23 on Friday, with shares hitting an intraday peak near $32.75 before settling back. The Durham-based silicon carbide chipmaker saw trading volume soar to 8.4 million shares, all happening less than two weeks ahead of its next earnings release.
Timing is key here. Wolfspeed plans to release its fiscal third-quarter numbers on May 5. CEO Robert Feurle and CFO Gregor van Issum are hosting the call, according to the company.
The upcoming call marks Wolfspeed’s next shot at showing its debt reset is actually buying time—enough to steady sales, keep factories humming, and hang on to customers following last year’s court-directed bankruptcy. Investors have their eyes on electric vehicle and AI data center demand, looking to see if those segments can pick up the slack from the sluggish core power-chip business.
Wolfspeed wrapped up a refinancing in March, bringing in $379 million through 3.5% convertible senior secured notes due 2031 and another $96.9 million from common stock and pre-funded warrants—securities that can be turned into shares. The company put those gross proceeds toward redeeming roughly $475.9 million of senior secured notes, trimming its total debt by close to $97 million and lowering its annual interest expense by around $62 million.
According to a securities filing, the new convertible notes are set with a conversion price around $20.14 per share—significantly under where shares closed on Friday. The same filing put Wolfspeed’s cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments at roughly $1.0 billion as of March 26.
The turnaround remains shaky. Wolfspeed’s Q2 numbers: revenue of roughly $168 million, with a net loss of $151 million under standard accounting. Looking ahead to the third quarter, the company is guiding for revenue between $140 million and $160 million, with gross margin still in the red. Management pointed to softer EV demand and customers looking for alternative suppliers amid bankruptcy as reasons. “Operating with discipline,” Feurle said. Van Issum listed priorities as “quality, cost and speed.”
Wolfspeed is holding its ground in silicon carbide—a material prized for managing high voltages and cutting energy loss—but competition is intense. onsemi has silicon carbide devices aimed at EV traction inverters and chargers, while STMicroelectronics pushes its own silicon carbide power lineup for electric vehicles and other systems focused on efficiency. Infineon, too, is in the mix, selling similar products for EV charging, traction inverters, and auxiliary power.
Back in September, the company emerged from Chapter 11, having slashed its total debt by almost 70% and trimmed yearly cash interest expenses by about 60%, according to Reuters. Wolfspeed produces silicon carbide chips that end up in electric vehicles, solar inverters, and industrial power gear.
Shares ticking higher buy management a little time—though not a lot. On May 5, investors will zero in on orders, Mohawk Valley factory utilization, cash burn, and whether this post-bankruptcy outfit can actually translate its streamlined balance sheet into better earnings.
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