SAS and Wolfspeed, two of the Triangle’s oldest companies, ready for new futures
I’m Brian Gordon, tech reporter for The News & Observer, and this is Open Source, a weekly newsletter on business, labor and technology in North Carolina.
Two of the Triangle’s oldest and largest homegrown companies are getting new chief operating officers. What this means for each may be different but neither less important.
The older of the pair, SAS, has been led by its CEO Jim Goodnight since 1976. Today, the 82-year-old is North Carolina’s richest man and reportedly still very active in the company’s day-to-day. But there are questions about who will lead SAS next — and when the private analytics software provider will finally go public.
On Thursday, SAS introduced Gavin Day as its first standalone COO since 2021. He has been at the Cary company for 25 years, most recently as an executive vice president who worked on readying SAS for an IPO.
SAS has now moved the goal post a few times on going public — from 2024 to 2025, and now from 2025 to TBD. During a media call this week, Day said hitting the market remained the goal, though the big, debt-free institution won’t be hurried.
“Timing is something that we have the luxury of,” he said.
Asked if becoming COO was a step toward CEO, Day kept to the company line. “There is absolutely a succession plan that Dr. Goodnight has in place,” he said. “And he will be the one to communicate that when the time is appropriate.”
Unlike Day at SAS, Wolfspeed’s new COO doesn’t yet exist. The struggling Durham semiconductor company has not had one — a fact some investors saw as a misstep. But that’s going to change, new CEO Robert Feurle said during a small media meet-and-greet Thursday.
Feurle arrived to the Triangle from Germany this week and said he’ll need time to learn what the 37-year-old company must do to protect its market share and rebound its floundering, much-shorted stock. One action he mentioned was diversifying where Wolfspeed’s patented silicon carbide chips go. Under previous CEO Gregg Lowe, Wolfspeed made a big bet on electric vehicles. This held promise but had the downside of teetering outcomes to one cyclical market. Feurle, in contrast, said he would like to see Wolfspeed chips in new sectors, including AI data centers.
“I think having a balanced volume across these end markets is helpful,” he said. “It’s very helpful to create stability.”
He also acknowledged having heard from some customers about quality concerns and missed commitments. “Honestly speaking, I need to really deep dive on exactly what happened,” he said. “Those conversations with customers are going to be really, really important.”
The new CEO arrives at a critical, perhaps existential, moment for the company. With a significant convertible debt obligation due in exactly 12 months, Wolfspeed must restructure the terms or face possible bankruptcy. At minimum, addressing this debt is a prerequisite to receive $750 million in federal CHIPS Act money.
This week, a holder of Wolfspeed’s 2026 debt reached out to The N&O to say the company has been presented an offer to relieve its upcoming obligation. But the company appears to be waiting for a different deal, perhaps one that addresses not only next year’s debt, but future obligations too.
Fuerle described these debt negotiations as a “parallel track” to the work of “regaining technology leadership” and identifying new markets — but one that is “the highest priority.”
Clearing my cache
- Duke University informed staff it will begin a voluntary buyout program — ahead of possible layoffs this summer — in response to Trump administration funding cuts. Duke is the Triangle’s largest employer, between the school and medical center.
- North Carolina is one step closer to allowing the state treasurer to invest up to 5% of public funds in cryptocurrencies and other digital assets. The GOP-backed bill passed the House this week by a vote of 71 to 44.
- More state legislative news: A bill that would add “mass picketing” to a law preventing workplace violence advanced through a Senate committee this week, despite concerns from Democratic members that the law could chill peaceful protesting of businesses. A lead organizer for the local Tesla protests spoke for our story.
- MrBeast, the North Carolina-based YouTube star, has sued a former employee alleging he snuck out company secrets after being fired. In a recent filing made in North Carolina’s Eastern District, MrBeast requested certain evidence in the case be sealed, citing “public speculation about a company that is immensely well-known nationally, and in this District in particular.”
- Back to the state legislature. North Carolina advanced a bill that would criminalize making AI-generated “deepfakes” that purport to be someone else.
- And Apple could be charged with criminal contempt after a federal judge said the company willfully ignored her ruling (and at times, “outright lied”) in the company’s long-running antitrust case with Cary’s Epic Games.
National Tech Happenings
- Under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced it will pursue a “universal vaccine” capable of fighting multiple virus strains. The project will cost $500 million, The Wall Street Journal reported.
- North Carolina is one of more than 20 states to sue the Trump administration over cuts to hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants through AmeriCorps. “These funds — which Congress already appropriated for North Carolina — are creating jobs, cleaning up storm damage, and helping families rebuild,” state Attorney General Jeff Jackson said in a statement.
- Scientists say they’ve discovered a new color.
- Who would win in a fight: 100 men or one gorilla? The question went viral this week, with at least one scientist giving the edge to homo sapiens.
Thanks for reading!
This story was originally published May 2, 2025 at 9:12 AM with the headline "SAS and Wolfspeed, two of the Triangle’s oldest companies, ready for new futures."
