Wolfspeed shares Siler City timeline for start and job training, but sees stock dip further
Wolfspeed, a semiconductor chipmaker headquartered in Durham, informed investors Wednesday it expects to begin producing silicon carbide wafers at its new Siler City factory during the first half of next year. To meet its timeline, the manufacturer will begin workforce training in the western Chatham County town as early as next month.
Nicknamed the “JP” after the company’s late cofounder John Palmour, the incoming $5 billion facility promises to create 1,800 jobs by the end of the decade. For now, Wolfspeed is coordinating with Central Carolina Community College to implement a curriculum.
The first employee training class is anticipated to begin in March with additional classes to be held over the summer, said Erin Blakeley, a project manager at Central Carolina. While the community college’s main campus is in Sanford, the course will be taught at Central Carolina’s center in Siler City, down the road from the plant.
“It was important for them to have a training facility within Siler City to show their investment in that community,” Blakeley said. “So that’s what we’re working on is building out a dedicated lab for Wolfspeed.”
The company and college aren’t designing the curriculum from scratch, Blakeley explained, as Wolfspeed has previously partnered with Durham Technical Community College to train workers for its Durham facilities. As of 2023, the company employed around 2,500 workers in the Triangle area.
At the Siler City “JP”, Wolfspeed will manufacture blank circular wafers made from the silicon carbide crystals the company grows. Wolfspeed then either sell these wafers to other producers or converts them into functioning chips itself at a fabrication facility in New York State. Wolfspeed says the JP will be capable of making 10 times more wafers than its Durham facility.
Once completed, semiconductor chips are used to power electric vehicles, defense equipment and energy storage systems, among other applications.
In October, Wolfspeed CEO Gregg Lowe said the company had already hired more than 100 people to work at the Siler City factory. “Hiring continues, and it’s an active process,” Wolfspeed spokesperson Tyler Gronbach told The News & Observer on Thursday.
When his company released earnings this week, Lowe gave a facilities update, noting Wolfspeed will “begin installing crystal growers in early February” and anticipated testing furnaces in the latter half of this year. Lowe added the chipmaker is using its Durham wafer production facility, called Building 10, as a template for the new factory.
“All of that experience is going to be applied to the JP, which we purposely kept less than an hour’s drive from our (Durham) campus,” he said. “And the reason we did that is we wanted the same people who ramped Building 10 to ramp the JP. And so now you’re talking about a purpose-built facility.”
Stock price continues to slip
Wolfspeed stock fell more than 13% Thursday as investors reacted negatively to the company’s lower revenue outlook. Though the chipmaker beat earnings estimates last quarter, Gronbach said weaker prospects in Asia is suppressing the share price.
“What you’re seeing is a reflection of kind of a broader issue that’s impacting (semiconductors), which is softening in industrial and energy sectors in places like China and Asia,” he said.
At market close Thursday, Wolfspeed stock was selling around $28 a share. By Friday afternoon, its share price had fallen another 7%, bringing its 12-month decrease to nearly 70%.
This story was originally published February 2, 2024 at 5:30 AM.
