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Business Insider
23-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Wolfspeed Stock (WOLF) Craters Over 59% on Bankruptcy News
Shares of semiconductor player Wolfspeed (WOLF) cratered over 59% on May 21 after the Wall Street Journal reported about its probable bankruptcy. The chipmaker and component supplier is set to file for a pre-packaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy within weeks, the report said, and most creditors are likely to support the proceedings. Confident Investing Starts Here: Wolfspeed is struggling with a mounting debt load that far exceeds its cash balance. In March, the company rejected several out-of-court settlement proposals from bond holders after its largest backer rebuffed the offers. Now, bankruptcy appears to be the only option as it has become harder to refinance its soon-to-mature debt securities. Diminishing chip demand from the automotive and industrial markets, coupled with stiff competition from Chinese players and tariff uncertainty has undermined Woldspeed's ambitions. Here's How Wolfspeed Got into This Mess Wolfspeed is an all-American semiconductor manufacturer and would have really succeeded under President Donald Trump's 'Make in America' initiative, were it not for its debt problems. In October 2024, Wolfspeed secured a $750 million financing deal with a group of investors led by Apollo Global Management APO +0.10% ▲ . At the time, Wolfspeed was also expected to receive up to $750 million in funding under the CHIPS Act of 2022. However, that taxpayer money was contingent on Wolfspeed refinancing its convertible notes maturing in 2026, 2028, and 2029. The silicon carbide chipmaker has roughly $6.5 billion in debt, while its cash and cash equivalents balance stood at $1.3 billion as of March 31, 2025. Out of the looming debt, the Apollo-led group holds $1.5 billion in senior secured loans, which forms the top-most tier. The group has the right to approve any new secured financing and was also responsible for rejecting all restructuring offers in March. Those deals included a provision for Wolfspeed's largest lender, Japan's Renesas Electronics, to convert some of its outstanding convertible notes to equity. Notably, Apollo has a 'make-whole' provision in the agreement, which means it remains unscathed from Wolfspeed's bankruptcy proceedings. Wolfspeed recently warned investors about its ' going concern ' risks and also cut its 2026 revenue outlook to $850 million, significantly below the consensus. The company has tried to streamline costs by cutting 20% of its workforce and shuttering facilities. However, to make matters worse, intense competition has led to a heated price war among chipmakers over the N-type SiC substrates, one of Wolfspeed's specialties. Will Wolfspeed Stock Recover? On TipRanks, WOLF stock has a Hold consensus rating based on three Buys, two Holds, and four Sell ratings. Also, the average Wolfspeed price target of $4.13 implies 141.5% upside potential from current levels. Meanwhile, the stock has lost 74.3% so far this year, and chances of a recovery seem very slim at the moment.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
TSMC leans on Howard Lutnick's former bankers for DC advice
TSMC, the Taiwanese chips giant of key strategic importance to the US, has big business before the White House, from CHIPS Act funding to discussions of a potential tie-up with Intel. To navigate Washington, the $1 trillion company has sought advice from an unlikely place: middle market investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald. Bankers at the firm run for decades by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick — and, until this week, majority-owned by him, too— have been providing informal advice to government-affairs executives at TSMC, according to people familiar with the matter, which is not historically a client of Cantor Fitzgerald, whose bread-and-butter business is securities brokerage and smaller IPOs. It's typical for companies to seek insight from those connected to a new US administration, and the business and finance backgrounds of Trump officials provide multiple inroads that weren't available in the Biden White House, which was largely devoid of private-sector resumes. 'While we do not comment on clients or potential clients, the statements regarding Cantor Fitzgerald are baseless and false,' a spokesperson for the firm said. A spokesperson for TSMC declined to comment. TSMC's senior leadership separately met with Lutnick in his Midtown offices earlier this year — a meeting requested by Lutnick as he prepared to become Commerce Secretary. He had by then stepped away from day-to-day management of Cantor, installing his two sons in nominal control of the firm. But he did not sell his controlling stake in the firm until this week, a level of private-sector entanglement unusual for Cabinet members. 'Secretary Lutnick has been focused on delivering President Trump's directive to reshore manufacturing back to the United States,' a Commerce spokesperson said. 'The administration's close collaboration with industry leaders has already secured trillions in investment commitments to Make in America, including a $165 billion investment from TSMC.' TSMC isn't paying Cantor for its advice, one of the people said, but its in-house lobbyists have turned to its bankers to understand Lutnick's thinking. And Cantor bankers have referenced a relationship with TSMC, whose customers include Apple and Nvidia, in new business pitches, according to one of the bank's clients. Lutnick was Cantor's CEO from 1991 until joining the Trump administration to run the Commerce Department, a consolation prize — he had wanted Treasury — but one that, thanks to his ubiquity around the president and the tariff agenda, has made him a powerful economic voice. Whether that ultimately turns into new business for Cantor is unclear, but its role as a sounding board for TSMC — which makes 90% of the world's advanced semiconductors and is becoming strategically important as a counterweight to China's tech sector — suggests an opportunity. Executives at Cantor have telegraphed high expectations for two of Trump's signature areas: tech and crypto dealmaking. The firm is ranked 10th on Dealogic's US equity capital markets league tables for this year, up from 16th at the same point in 2024. That includes a $500 million at-the-market offering for Rocketlab, a space company, and a $21 billion offering for Michael Saylor's Bitcoin vehicle Strategy (formerly known as MicroStrategy.) Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
