Cree focuses on compounds with Sunnyvale closure
Cree is to close its silicon RF and microwave division based in Sunnyvale, CA, and instead focus entirely on GaN and SiC technology for this business area.
Cree Microwave will take orders for silicon LDMOS products until the end of this month, but expects to wind down the business by the end of the calendar year.
Closing the Sunnyvale facility will cost the company $13 million-15 million, a total that includes just under $2 million in severance payments to staff, and around $4.7 million in facility lease obligations.
Cree had been looking to dispose of the silicon RF business, which cost the parent company $9.2 million in pre-tax operating loss for the nine months ended March 27, for some time.
GaN- and SiC-based RF and microwave products will still be marketed under the Cree Microwave brand following the Sunnyvale closure.
Manufacture of Cree's Schottky diode product line, which was recently qualified in Sunnyvale, will now be consolidated at the company's Durham, NC, headquarters.