Cree Inc. (CREE)

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Cree Inc.
4600 Silicon Drive
Durham, NC 27703
United States - Map
Phone: 919-313-5300
Fax: 919-313-5452
Web Site: CREE | LEDs for the LED Lighting Revolution

DETAILS
Index Membership: S&P 400 MidCap
S&P 1500 Super Comp
Sector: Technology
Industry: Semiconductor Equipment & Materials
Full Time Employees: 3,172


BUSINESS SUMMARY
Cree, Inc. develops and manufactures light emitting diode (LED) products, silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) material products, and power and radio frequency (RF) products. Its LED products include LED chips used in various applications, including video screens, gaming displays, function indicator lights, and automotive backlighting; LED components; and LED lighting products. The company’s SiC and GaN materials comprise SiC and GaN wafers, which are used in manufacturing LEDs, RF and microwave devices, and power devices, as well as in research and development. Its power and RF products include power switching devices made from SiC, including 600 and 1,200-volt Schottky diode products that are used in power factor correction circuits for power supplies in computer servers and other applications, such as solar inverters; and RF microwave devices made from SiC or GaN, which include 10-watt and 60-watt SiC transistors, and metal-semiconductor field effect transistor products, as well as GaN high electron mobility transistors and monolithic microwave integrated circuits for broadband amplifiers or for WiMAX applications. Cree, Inc. primarily operates in Hong Kong, China, the United States, Korea, Europe, Japan, Malaysia, and Taiwan. The company was founded in 1987 and is based in Durham, North Carolina.
CREE: Profile for Cree, Inc. - Yahoo! Finance

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Cree Adding Green Jobs in North Carolina

DURHAM, N.C., Oct. 8, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cree, Inc. (Nasdaq:CREE - News), a market leader in LED lighting, announces the expansion of its North Carolina manufacturing capacity and the addition of North Carolina-based green jobs as the market for energy-efficient LED lighting continues to expand.


Cree expects to add 275 North Carolina jobs during 2009 to serve the expansion of LED manufacturing capacity and other staffing needs at its Durham, N.C., facility. Cree anticipates creating an additional 300 jobs by the end of 2012.



"Green jobs are a cornerstone of my vision for building a 21st century global economy in North Carolina," Gov. Bev Perdue said. "This job announcement fits perfectly with my plan to grow a world-leading green economy in North Carolina that turns green into gold for decades to come."



Cree has also begun manufacturing and assembling LED lighting products with Flextronics in Mecklenburg County, N.C. Initial products made in this facility are the ENERGY STAR(R)-qualified LR6 recessed LED downlight and award-winning LR24 LED troffer replacement.



"We are seeing tremendous growth for LED lighting," said Cree CEO Chuck Swoboda. "Energy-efficient lighting has its roots right here in North Carolina, and Cree is proud to be bringing more green jobs to our state."



Cree's industry-leading line of LED lights, including recessed downlights and troffer replacements, began North Carolina production in August 2009.



About Cree



Cree is leading the LED lighting revolution and setting the stage to obsolete the incandescent light bulb through the use of energy-efficient, environmentally friendly LED lighting. Cree is a market-leading innovator of lighting-class LEDs, LED lighting, and semiconductor solutions for backlighting, wireless and power applications.



The Cree, Inc. logo is available at GlobeNewswire, Inc.



Cree's product families include LED fixtures and bulbs, blue and green LED chips, high-brightness LEDs, lighting-class power LEDs, power-switching devices and radio-frequency/wireless devices. Cree solutions are driving improvements in applications such as general illumination, electronic signs and signals, variable-speed motors and wireless communications.



For additional product and company information, please refer to Cree Inc : Cree LED Lighting Solutions : the first and only general illumination LED system that provides beautiful color, high efficiency and eco-friendly technology
Cree Adding Green Jobs in North Carolina - Yahoo! Finance

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Wal-Mart (WMT), the mega-retailer that helped put energy consumption on the agenda for corporate executives, said it will use light emitting diode lights from Cree (CREE) in new stores and retrofitted ones. In the first year, that will come to 650 stores alone.

The stores will replace ceramic metal halide lights, those honkers you see in the ceiling of big box retailers. The Cree bulbs will emit the same amount of light as a 70-watt bulb but use 82 percent less power.

LEDs have been talked about for years, but are finally going to start appearing in large numbers. Commercial establishments will install them first. The bulbs cut power, and commercial establishments typically have more bulbs, but the bulbs also cut maintenance. LED bulbs last 50,000 hours, far longer than vacuum-tube bulbs. That leads to fewer hours the maintenance people have to climb ladders to replace bulbs, order new bulbs, figure out places to stock the ones that just came in the mail, etc.

LEDs will come to the consumer market, but more slowly. Most people, after all, just change their own bulbs so the cost associated with swapping them is minimal.

The quality of light has also improved with LED bulbs – that "alien autopsy" tone of white is vanishing – and the price is coming down. Need more on lighting? Here's a comprehensive report on the subject that, just by coincidence, I wrote.

In the middle of the decade Wal-Mart started looking at its energy bills and determined that it could whack a lot of operating costs through efficiency. Lighting was an early target. By taking out the light bulbs in the coke machines on the premises, the company saved $1 million a year.

LEDs represent the biggest opportunity in lighting. The second biggest (or first, according to some) will be equipment to network lights so they can be automatically dimmed or turned off.