The chip plant in Marcy and what it is meant to make
Wolfspeed opened a silicon carbide fabrication plant in Marcy in 2022 with major state support. Here is what the company makes and why it chose the Mohawk Valley.
By Tom Brezinski
In September 2019, Wolfspeed, then known as Cree, announced a $1 billion plant in Marcy, just north of Utica. The goal was to build the largest silicon carbide fabrication facility in the world. New York State backed it with a $500 million grant.
The Marcy plant opened in April 2022.
Wolfspeed makes wide-bandgap semiconductors. Its focus is silicon carbide materials and devices for power uses: electric vehicles and other transportation, power supplies, inverters and wireless systems. The company was founded in 1987 in Durham, N.C., by a group of North Carolina State graduates.
In October 2024 the federal government announced it would give Wolfspeed up to $750 million in direct funding to support its new North Carolina wafer factory and the Marcy plant.
For Oneida County, the plant is one of the largest private investments in decades, and a bet that the Mohawk Valley can win a piece of the chip industry.