Author Topic: What happened to Cree?  (Read 1441 times)
Lightingeye60
Member
***
Offline

View Posts
View Gallery

What happened to Cree? « on: June 12, 2026, 04:02:57 PM » Author: Lightingeye60
It seems that Cree (Wolfspeed), once a major manufacturer of LED street lighting diodes, and industrial LED lighting solutions, filed for Bankruptcy in 2025, and their residential decision was sold.

I was shocked and pleased to find Cree bulbs sold in stores again, but I found out they are essentially just rebranded Feit lamps (and Feit isn’t exactly known for making the best products).

It seems that Lowe’s is now slowly phasing out the sale of GE stuff and seeing more of the Feit Cree lamps.

Also, very weird to find fluorescent and CFL lamps branded under Cree. Cree used to be a leading LED manufacturer, and back in the day, they popularized the LED market, though their bulbs were pretty expensive back when they sold the 1 packs at Home Depot. Now, Cree lamps are essentially just a Feit lamps with a Cree logo on it.
Logged
rapidstart_12
Member
***
Offline

Gender: Male
View Posts
View Gallery


@rs12official
Re: What happened to Cree? « Reply #1 on: June 12, 2026, 09:42:52 PM » Author: rapidstart_12
If I recall correctly, the brand was dwindling for some time after cheaper LEDs took over the market, until it just collapsed. I think the Feit acquisition, as weird as it is, will actually be beneficial to the Cree brand. Feit has been a hugely successful brand in recent years and I have no doubt that they will bring Cree back into the mainstream, especially with more inexpensive and diversified products. They also got Cree into a position where it’s pretty much the only brand sold in Lowe’s stores, which I can only imagine will further its sales. Sure, the fact that the Cree brand name is now being applied to fluorescent lamps is a bit surprising, but I would gladly take a Cree-branded fluorescent lamp over no fluorescent lamp.
Logged
mefurd98
Member
***
Offline

Gender: Male
View Posts
View Gallery
Avid collector of old consumer grade lighting.


Re: What happened to Cree? « Reply #2 on: June 13, 2026, 12:52:37 AM » Author: mefurd98
Was the Feit acquisition of Cree recent? Like within the past couple of years? In the not too distant past, Lowe's had plenty of Feit branded lamps...HID, fluorescent, halogen, xenon lamps...now it's mostly Cree and Sylvania with a few of the halogen and xenon specialty lamps still branded as Feit.
Logged
Econolite03
Member
*****
Offline

Gender: Male
View Posts
View Gallery

Matthew E.


WWW
Re: What happened to Cree? « Reply #3 on: June 13, 2026, 05:28:03 AM » Author: Econolite03
Correct, the acquisition occurred last fall. They seem to be marketed now as an upscale/specialty Feit brand.
Logged

Econolite03… A Voyage Through Time

dor123
Member
*****
Offline

Gender: Male
View Posts
View Gallery

Other loves are printers/scanners/copiers, A/Cs


WWW
Re: What happened to Cree? « Reply #4 on: June 13, 2026, 07:03:55 AM » Author: dor123
Was the Feit acquisition of Cree recent? Like within the past couple of years? In the not too distant past, Lowe's had plenty of Feit branded lamps...HID, fluorescent, halogen, xenon lamps...now it's mostly Cree and Sylvania with a few of the halogen and xenon specialty lamps still branded as Feit.
Xenon lamps you explicitly won't find there...
Logged

I"m don't speak English well, and rely on online translating to write in this site.
Please forgive me if my choice of my words looks like offensive, while that isn't my intention.

I only working with the international date format (dd.mm.yyyy).

I lives in Israel, which is a 220-240V, 50hz country.

mefurd98
Member
***
Offline

Gender: Male
View Posts
View Gallery
Avid collector of old consumer grade lighting.


Re: What happened to Cree? « Reply #5 on: June 13, 2026, 05:30:08 PM » Author: mefurd98
This is what I am referring to:
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Feit-Electric-20-Watt-EQ-T4-Dimmable-Bright-White-Tubular-Appliance-Light-Fixture-Halogen-Light-Bulb/50109662
Logged
LightsoftheWest
Member
*****
Offline

Gender: Male
View Posts
View Gallery

SRP for life.


streetlightian
Re: What happened to Cree? « Reply #6 on: June 13, 2026, 08:23:14 PM » Author: LightsoftheWest
Yeah, it's really sad to see such a big and advanced company fall to its knees.

Additionally, Cree's commercial light fixture division was sold by Ideal Industries to ADLT in late 2023; that was when their fixture lineup began to decline. Several of their roadway luminaires, like the LEDway, XSP, and RSW were recently discontinued. Even the Traveyo, which only came out in 2020 was pulled from the US. The Guideway remains as their only offering, and it's not a very well-built product.
Logged

LG's #1 North American light fixture identifier

**If anyone wants to learn more about any company or product you've never heard of before, do please leave a comment saying so on one of my gallery pictures or by PM, and I'd be happy to give a thorough explanation.**

dor123
Member
*****
Offline

Gender: Male
View Posts
View Gallery

Other loves are printers/scanners/copiers, A/Cs


WWW
Re: What happened to Cree? « Reply #7 on: June 13, 2026, 10:40:29 PM » Author: dor123
This is what I am referring to:
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Feit-Electric-20-Watt-EQ-T4-Dimmable-Bright-White-Tubular-Appliance-Light-Fixture-Halogen-Light-Bulb/50109662
This is a halogen lamp, not a xenon lamp.
Logged

I"m don't speak English well, and rely on online translating to write in this site.
Please forgive me if my choice of my words looks like offensive, while that isn't my intention.

I only working with the international date format (dd.mm.yyyy).

I lives in Israel, which is a 220-240V, 50hz country.

CooperOVZ
Member
**
Offline

Gender: Male
View Posts
View Gallery

Kabir


Re: What happened to Cree? « Reply #8 on: June 13, 2026, 11:43:23 PM » Author: CooperOVZ
Traveyo series and the RUL series are still avaliable here in Canada. My city and a couple of other small towns in Ontario utilizied the XSP series a lot up until I would say late 2024 or early 2025. The Guideways did pop up as spot replacements for a bit in my city but now they have decided to utilize other brands like CONXCORP, Cooper, Philips, AEL, etc.
Logged
CooperOVZ
Member
**
Offline

Gender: Male
View Posts
View Gallery

Kabir


Re: What happened to Cree? « Reply #9 on: June 13, 2026, 11:47:13 PM » Author: CooperOVZ
Cree had also given all of its employees temporary leaves for a while. I heard that those temporary leaves ended back in March of this year. Lets hope they get back on track.
Logged
Baked bagel 11
Member
*****
Offline

Gender: Male
View Posts
View Gallery

Tom


UCO6cAQm377MpL943-mH_DHw
Re: What happened to Cree? « Reply #10 on: June 14, 2026, 07:15:27 AM » Author: Baked bagel 11
It's a real shame that a pioneer, the company who made LED streets make sense for the masses, once the best quality of their kind, has just slowly lost popularity, now becoming the regular, cheap crap of today.

Just sad.
Logged
Print 
© 2005-2026 Lighting-Gallery.net | SMF 2.0.19 | SMF © 2021, Simple Machines | Terms and Policies