Cree acquires APEI, partners with Epistar on LED patents

Cree Inc., Durham, N.C., has acquired Arkansas Power Electronics International, Inc. (AEPI), a manufacturer of power modules. The acquisition enables Cree’s Power and RF business to extend its position in silicon carbide (SiC) power modules with additional intellectual property and applications expertise at the systems level from APEI.

Cree also announced a a worldwide patent cross-license agreement with Epistar Corp., for light-emitting diode (LED) chips. Cree and Epistar both hold LED chip patent portfolios for making blue LEDs. Under the new agreement, each party receives a license to the other’s nitride LED chip patents and certain rights to non-nitride LED chip patents.