The Wall Street tumble Wolfspeed took Friday (when its share price fell 11%) would have been par for the course this time last year. Over the first half of 2025, the Durham semiconductor supplier careened toward bankruptcy with a dwindling share price that eventually fell below $1. It was among the market’s most heavily shorted stocks.
But in recent weeks, the newly restructured Wolfspeed has seen more double-digit gains than dips. Its value has quadrupled since the start of April, vaulting from less than $15 a share to above $60. Few companies have risen more in 2026.
“Wolfspeed, trading under ticker WOLF, just went from slow grind to rocket mode on the chart,” the trading platform StocksToTrade wrote in a May 14 post.
What has driven Wolfspeed’s market success? Some analysts credit this week’s report from Citrini Research, a buzzy investment research firm that heralded Wolfspeed as a “crouching tiger getting ready to reveal a dragon.”
In a bit of irony, Citrini reasoned the same force that pushed Wolfspeed to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last June — that it had overspent on factories to meet projected electric vehicle sales that never materialized — now positions the large North Carolina employer to serve the artificial intelligence boom.
Before going bankrupt, Wolfspeed had accumulated billions of dollars in debt to build a chip fabrication plant in New York State’s Mohawk Valley and a massive semiconductor materials plant near Siler City in western Chatham County. Its goal was to increase production of silicon carbide chips, a unique semiconductor that manages power in EVs.
When electric vehicle sales lagged, Wolfspeed sought debt relief through the courts. It emerged from Chapter 11 in late September through an agreement that converted its creditors into new shareholders (its former shareholders got pennies on the dollar). Through it all, Wolfspeed reduced its Durham headcount and kept its Siler City materials factory almost entirely empty.
Now, Citrini argues the chipmaker wasn’t off base to anticipate a need for more silicon carbide. It was just early — and it had the wrong end use. Compared to Wolfspeed powering EVs, the research firm is more bullish on the chipmaker supplying AI infrastructure in data centers. The company’s aggressive build-out that seemed misguided a few years ago could soon prove lucrative.
The capital expenditure “looked (and was) value destructive in 2023,” Citrini wrote. “By 2027, it will look like one of the most prescient infrastructure bets in the wide-bandgap industry.”
Citrini noted that steep financial barriers to building new chip fabrication plants should make Wolfspeed’s existing New York State “fab” all the more essential. “The setup now, on the other side of bankruptcy, is perfect,” the firm wrote.
‘Not falling for this again’
The Citrini report comes amid generally lower stock analysis on Wolfspeed. Multiple firms suspended their coverage of the company around the time it filed for Chapter 11. On Thursday, the financial data platform Barchart called this dearth of coverage “a major red flag” when assessing the company.
Electric vehicles remain Wolfspeed’s biggest revenue segment, but the company continues to emphasize its pivot toward data centers. Wolfspeed listed 30% growth in data center applications as the top item in its May 5 earnings press release, noting this represented “a moderate but expanding part of the Company’s business with meaningful long-term potential.”
CEO Robert Feurle told investors silicon carbide can be used across the data center ecosystem, from backup battery storage to cooling units to external transmission equipment. He also said his company could look to “redeploy” the space left when Wolfspeed recently shuttered its 150-millimeter production facility in Durham.
Wolfspeed declined to comment on its recent stock price movement to The News & Observer. Other power-semiconductor producers like ON Semiconductor and Infineon Technologies have benefited from dramatic share price jumps in 2026, too.
For retail investors, Citrini’s thesis reflects another opportunity to make money from the Durham chipmaker. But after riding the bankruptcy slide last year, navigating through short squeeze hype and conspiracy theories to ultimately see their shares significantly diluted, some may be done betting on WOLF.
In response to a recent YouTube video that suggested Wolfspeed shares could soar to $98, one Reddit user in a group dedicated to the company wrote “hell no not falling for this again.”
This story was originally published May 16, 2026 at 8:50 AM.
