As electric vehicle adoption accelerates worldwide, Wolfspeed announced it will divest its radio frequency business to MACOM Technology Solutions Holdings for $75 million in order pave the way for the company to focus on automotive, fast charging, and other booming markets. MACOM, which creates semiconductor products for telecommunications, defense, and industrial clients, is seeking Wolfspeed’s radio frequency product pipeline “for next generation telecommunications infrastructure, military and other commercial applications.”
“Given the significant growth we’ve seen in automotive, industrial and renewable energy markets, we believe this is the right time to further focus on scaling our Power device and materials businesses to meet this accelerated demand,” Wolfspeed President and CEO Gregg Lowe states in the company’s press release. The company’s product family includes, “power devices and RF devices targeted for various applications such as electric vehicles, fast charging, 5G, renewable energy and storage.”
According to the Boston Consulting Group, electric vehicles adoption across the U.S. is accelerating – so much so, that they revise their growth estimates significantly upward each year.
Even with American’s seemingly ravenous appetite for Teslas, the nation has just scratched the surface of the market. In fact, the U.S. is still in the “innovator” phase of the technology, where only the most intrepid consumers partake, trailing other nations. As the following chart depicts, Scandinavian nations lead the world in EV adoption.
In Norway, for example, EVs represent 25% of all cars on the road. Norwegian consumers are incentivized by their government with free parking, free tolls, and tax exemptions for drivers of EVs, while those purchasing polluting vehicles were punished with increased taxes and high gas prices. Now, EVs represent 80% of car sales in the nation. Wolfspeed appears to counting on further mass adoption in other nations as well.
According to Matterhorn’s comprehensive M&A database, which harnesses AI to track current and historical deals, Wolfspeed is represented by law firm Smith Anderson LLP and financial advisor J.P. Morgan Securities LLC.