Company co-founded by alumnus John Edmond ’83 opens semiconductor manufacturing plant in Marcy, NY
Wolfspeed, a company co-founded 35 years ago by Alfred University alumnus and Board of Trustee member John Edmond ’83, officially opened its $1 billion silicon carbide chip manufacturing facility in Marcy, NY, on Monday, April 25.
MARCY, NY (April 26, 2022)—Wolfspeed, a company co-founded 35 years ago by Alfred University alumnus and Board of Trustee member John Edmond ’83, officially opened its $1 billion silicon carbide chip manufacturing facility in Marcy, NY, on Monday, April 25.
Silicon carbide chips made at the Wolfspeed plant will be used to produce components utilized in solar panels, home appliances, and electric vehicles, including those made by General Motors and luxury automaker Lucid Motors. The facility is located in the 434-acre Marcy Nanocenter in Marcy, NY, an Oneida County community located about eight miles northwest of Utica.
Read the story—“This is what the future looks like: Wolfspeed opens $1 billion semiconductor facility in Marcy”—in today’s Utica Observer-Dispatch.
Wolfspeed was founded in 1987 by Edmond and five others, including four fellow graduate students at North Carolina State University. At the time, the company was named Cree Inc. and initially focused on producing LEDs and, later, LED lighting solutions. The Durham, NC-based Cree—which changed its name to Wolfspeed last fall when it moved from NASDAQ to being listed on the New York Stock Exchange—is now a global leader in the development and manufacture of silicon carbide power and radio frequency semiconductors.
Wolfspeed company representatives and New York State and Oneida County government officials—including New York Governor Kathy Holchul— were on hand for Monday’s ceremony marking the opening of the Marcy plant. The facility—touted as the world’s first, largest, and only producer of 200mm silicon carbide wafers—currently employs approximately 265 people. That number is expected to rise to 400 by 2026 and eventually to 600.
Edmond earned a bachelor’s degree in ceramic engineering from Alfred University and went on to earn a doctorate in materials science from NC State. A member of the Alfred University Board of Trustees since 2008, he is currently a Research Fellow at Wolfspeed.