---
title: "Wolfspeed now sells premium wafers to its competitors, and guides to lose money doing it"
description: "Wolfspeed made its premium 200 mm silicon carbide substrate orderable this week and reports on October 28 with the September quarter guided to $140–160 million of revenue and a negative gross margin. The tape, up 33% in a week on retail buying, sits more than $8 above the average analyst target."
publisher: "The Inference"
section: "Chips"
published: 2026-10-07T01:10:31.923Z
modified: 2026-10-07T01:14:58.697Z
canonical: https://theinference.org/article/wolfspeed-now-sells-premium-wafers-to-its-competitors-and-guides-to-lose-money-doing-it
language: en
keywords: "Wolfspeed, Silicon Carbide, Semiconductors, Earnings, Retail Trading"
---

# Wolfspeed now sells premium wafers to its competitors, and guides to lose money doing it

> Wolfspeed made its premium 200 mm silicon carbide substrate orderable this week and reports on October 28 with the September quarter guided to $140–160 million of revenue and a negative gross margin. The tape, up 33% in a week on retail buying, sits more than $8 above the average analyst target.

## The Roaring Kitty remix

[Wolfspeed's](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/wolfspeed) retail crowd spent the week quoting Roaring Kitty. [A thread on r/wolfspeed](https://old.reddit.com/r/wolfspeed/comments/1wvbytw/quoting_roaring_kitty_mr_market_says_wolfspeed_is/) put "Mr. Market says [Wolfspeed](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0000895419) is a $31.17 stock" over a chart, and [a Stocktwits post counted the shares up 33% in a week](https://stocktwits.com/Panicmode/message/665631936) [1][2]. The move was real: WOLF [closed at $35.28 on October 2 after a 13.19% jump](https://www.ad-hoc-news.de/boerse/news/corporate-news/wolfspeed-stock-gained-13-19-percent-on-october-2/70232899) [4], then slid 4.90% to $33.55 on October 5 [7]. This is a company that canceled its old shares in bankruptcy court 13 months ago; the replacement shares surged more than 1,000% on day one [8].

## The wafer it sells to its rivals

On September 27, Wolfspeed made its [Premium 200 mm n-type silicon carbide substrate](https://theinference.org/article/wolfspeed-s-premium-wafer-bets-quality-can-beat-china-s-500-price-machine) orderable: fewer than 0.01 micropipes per square centimeter, fewer than three per wafer, with dedicated capacity and room to ramp inside its existing fab [3]. [A micropipe is a hollow defect](https://chargedevs.com/newswire/wolfspeed-adds-premium-200-mm-n-type-silicon-carbide-substrate-to-its-materials-line/) that kills whatever device is built on top of it [11]. [The customers Wolfspeed names are "silicon carbide device manufacturers"](https://investor.wolfspeed.com/news/news-details/2026/Wolfspeed-Expands-200-mm-Silicon-Carbide-Portfolio-with-New-Premium-Power-Substrates/default.aspx) [3], and Wolfspeed builds those devices itself [6]. The pivot sells the starting material to everyone, competitors included.

## A guide to lose money by

The launch lands on numbers pointing the other way. Fiscal 2026 revenue fell to $665.1 million from $757.6 million [4]. The June quarter dropped 24.1% to $149.6 million [6]. [GAAP gross margin has been negative in all four quarters since the Chapter 11 exit](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0000895419) [5], and the September quarter is guided to $140–160 million with a negative non-GAAP gross margin [4].

*Chart: **Gross margin has been negative every quarter since the Chapter 11 exit, narrowing for two straight quarters** Column chart of Wolfspeed GAAP gross margin by quarter, every bar below zero: negative 39.2 percent in the September 2025 quarter, negative 46.5 in December, negative 26.6 in March and negative 24.5 in June 2026.*

*GAAP gross margin as a percent of revenue, by fiscal quarter, from Wolfspeed's SEC filings; the fiscal year ends in June. The September 2026 quarter is guided to a negative non-GAAP gross margin, so it is not charted. [12]*

## Four quarters down, no floor in the guide

*Chart: **Revenue has fallen every quarter since the bankruptcy exit, and the guide holds it flat** Column chart of Wolfspeed quarterly revenue from September 2025 to June 2026, falling each quarter from 196.8 to 149.6 million dollars, with a final hatched bar for the guided September 2026 quarter at 150 million.*

*Quarterly revenue in US$ millions from Wolfspeed's SEC filings; the final bar is company guidance of $140-160M for the September 2026 quarter. Wolfspeed's fiscal year ends in June. [5][4]*

The guide's midpoint matches the June quarter, so the slide stops only if Wolfspeed beats it [4]. Five analysts, one Buy, three Holds and one Sell, [average a $25.00 target, $10.28 below the October 2 close](https://www.marketbeat.com/instant-alerts/price-wolfspeed-nyse-wolf-shares-down-77-heres-why-2026-10-05/) [6][4]. The 52-week range of $13.48 to $80.82 is what a positioning-driven tape looks like [4]. On its own guidance, more than a dollar of cost goes into every dollar of September-quarter sales, and the market paid $35.28 a share for the privilege.

## The AI counterargument

The bull case is hyperscale power. Wolfspeed [qualified its silicon carbide MOSFETs for LITEON's 800 VDC platforms](https://investor.wolfspeed.com/news/news-details/2026/Wolfspeed-and-LITEON-Partner-to-Support-Hyperscale-AI-Data-Center-Deployments-with-800-VDC-Power-Solutions/default.aspx) aimed at AI data centers [9], and in July it [sued Navitas to defend the patents behind that hardware](https://investor.wolfspeed.com/news/news-details/2026/Wolfspeed-Files-Patent-Infringement-Lawsuit-Against-Navitas-Semiconductor/default.aspx) [10]. Materials chief Cengiz Balkas calls the substrate "a stronger foundation" for demanding devices [3]. None of it is revenue this quarter, and the guide carrying those wins still says negative gross margin [4].

## October 28 decides

Earnings land on October 28, the first print where substrate orders must answer the device decline, with the annual meeting the day before [4]. No source discloses order volume for the new wafer, so the squeeze and the story part ways there. The tell is one line: if the December-quarter margin guide is still negative, the wafer business is not yet carrying the factory.

## Takeaway

The substrate is orderable, the stock is up 33% in a week, and gross margin is still negative; the October 28 print and the December-quarter margin guide decide whether the premium wafer can carry the factory.

## Sources

1. [Reddit, r/wolfspeed: Quoting Roaring Kitty, "Mr. Market says Wolfspeed is a $31.17 stock" or something?, 4 October 2026](https://old.reddit.com/r/wolfspeed/comments/1wvbytw/quoting_roaring_kitty_mr_market_says_wolfspeed_is/)
2. [Stocktwits, @Panicmode on $WOLF: +33% 1 week, 3 October 2026](https://stocktwits.com/Panicmode/message/665631936)
3. [Wolfspeed press release, Wolfspeed Expands 200 mm Silicon Carbide Portfolio with New Premium Power Substrates, 27 September 2026](https://investor.wolfspeed.com/news/news-details/2026/Wolfspeed-Expands-200-mm-Silicon-Carbide-Portfolio-with-New-Premium-Power-Substrates/default.aspx)
4. [ad-hoc-news.de, Wolfspeed stock gained 13.19 percent on October 2, collected 6 October 2026](https://www.ad-hoc-news.de/boerse/news/corporate-news/wolfspeed-stock-gained-13-19-percent-on-october-2/70232899)
5. [Wolfspeed quarterly figures from its SEC filings (EDGAR), retrieved 6 October 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0000895419)
6. [MarketBeat, Wolfspeed (NYSE:WOLF) Shares Down 7.7% - Here's Why, 5 October 2026](https://www.marketbeat.com/instant-alerts/price-wolfspeed-nyse-wolf-shares-down-77-heres-why-2026-10-05/)
7. [JKN, Wolfspeed Slides Sharply on Renewed Execution Concerns, 6 October 2026](https://news.jkn.co.kr/editions/english/post/1008453)
8. [Wikipedia, Wolfspeed, retrieved 6 October 2026](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfspeed)
9. [Wolfspeed press release, Wolfspeed and LITEON Partner to Support Hyperscale AI Data Center Deployments with 800 VDC Power Solutions, 6 August 2026](https://investor.wolfspeed.com/news/news-details/2026/Wolfspeed-and-LITEON-Partner-to-Support-Hyperscale-AI-Data-Center-Deployments-with-800-VDC-Power-Solutions/default.aspx)
10. [Wolfspeed press release, Wolfspeed Files Patent Infringement Lawsuit Against Navitas Semiconductor, 7 July 2026](https://investor.wolfspeed.com/news/news-details/2026/Wolfspeed-Files-Patent-Infringement-Lawsuit-Against-Navitas-Semiconductor/default.aspx)
11. [ChargeDevs, Wolfspeed adds Premium 200 mm n-type silicon carbide substrate to its materials line, collected 6 October 2026](https://chargedevs.com/newswire/wolfspeed-adds-premium-200-mm-n-type-silicon-carbide-substrate-to-its-materials-line/)
12. [Wolfspeed, quarterly figures from its SEC filings, retrieved 6 October 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0000895419)


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Wolfspeed now sells premium wafers to its competitors, and guides to lose money doing it — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/wolfspeed-now-sells-premium-wafers-to-its-competitors-and-guides-to-lose-money-doing-it