Wolfspeed – a global leader in silicon carbide technology – announced a $1.25 billion secured note financing from an investment group led by Apollo with an accordion feature for up to an additional $750 million. This financing supports the company’s previously announced U.S. expansion efforts and is a significant step toward achieving the company’s $6.5 billion global capacity expansion plan.
The execution of Wolfspeed’s U.S. growth plan will accelerate adoption of silicon carbide across a wide array of end markets and support meaningful job creation in US semiconductor manufacturing.
The 9.875% notes are going to mature in 2030 and are optionally prepayable by the company based on the terms of the indenture governing the notes. And the investment was led by funds managed by Apollo’s ~$450 billion Credit business.
KEY QUOTES:
“The group’s commitment to Wolfspeed further validates the importance of silicon carbide to the global energy transition. This important step in our financing provides significant capital to scale up near-term operations at our Mohawk Valley Fab and construction of our Siler City materials facility to help us capture the growing silicon carbide market opportunity. The financing positions Wolfspeed to continue to lead the growth of the industry and focus on the execution of our vertically integrated strategy to meet growing demand.”
— Gregg Lowe, president and chief executive officer of Wolfspeed
“Our agreement with Apollo and its capital partners achieves our near-term funding targets while prioritizing our shareholders with a new, non-dilutive source of financing. Apollo and its capital partners’ investment follows an extensive review of our business and demonstrates their conviction in our team, operating plan and trajectory.”
— Neill Reynolds, chief financial officer of Wolfspeed
“Apollo is pleased to provide a dynamic and flexible credit solution to Wolfspeed as it significantly expands its silicon carbide manufacturing capacity. The company’s growth plan is designed to deliver critical silicon carbide products for a range of automotive and industrial uses, and support sustainability goals with market-leading technology. With the help of our capital partners, we have crafted a facility that can provide up to $2 billion to ramp the company’s expansion plans.”
— Joseph Jackson, Partner, Apollo Credit
