The U.S. Department of Defense’s Office of Strategic Capital recently provided North Carolina-based Wolfspeed, a silicon carbide (SiC) technologies company, with a conditional loan commitment letter for up to $1.5 billion of long-term financing.
Under the terms of the loan commitment, Wolfspeed would be required to issue the department volume-weighted average price-based warrants to purchase in the aggregate up to 7.5 percent of Wolfspeed’s fully diluted equity. This is subject to negotiation and the execution of definitive agreements.
“We believe the scale and 30-year tenor of this conditional commitment reflects the long-term importance of the technology and manufacturing capabilities Wolfspeed has built in the United States,” Robert Feurle, Wolfspeed CEO, said. “This financing would strengthen our continued advancement of silicon carbide materials and wide bandgap power devices, reinforcing our efforts to build a more resilient U.S. semiconductor and defense industrial base.”
The domestic wide bandgap supply chain is critical to the U.S. defense and economic industrial base.
Funding also will be used to support department initiatives such as electronic warfare systems and develop radiation-hardening capabilities for its current and future SiC and gallium nitride (GaN) epitaxy products, and upgrading its GaN capabilities.
Wolfspeed manufactures in North Carolina, Arkansas and New York.