Cree Announces Breakthrough 100-Lumen XLamp LEDs Available in Volume Quantities

XLamp LEDs have now achieved a 100% improvement in performance over the past 17 months. They can deliver either 25% greater brightness with improved efficacy, or they can deliver up to 55% greater brightness at the same efficacy when compared to the previous generation of XLamp LEDs. Moreover, the new XLamp LEDs retain the same footprint as previous XLamp LEDs, thereby protecting customers’ design investments.

"Cree is to be congratulated on surpassing the 100-lumen level in its commercial white LED products," said Robert Steele, director of the optoelectronics practice at market research firm Strategies Unlimited. "The availability of such high-performance devices should certainly accelerate the conversion of the lighting market to solid-state sources."

“This is an announcement of volume availability, not an R&D result or availability of a few parts,” stated Norbert Hiller, Cree vice president and general manager for lighting LEDs. “These LEDs can enable lighting manufactures to create fixtures using fewer LEDs than before, thereby lowering initial product cost and reducing energy consumption.”

About Cree, Inc.
Cree is a market-leading innovator and manufacturer of semiconductors and devices that enhance the value of solid-state lighting, power and communications products by significantly increasing their energy performance and efficiency.

Key to Cree’s market advantage is its world-class materials expertise in SiC and GaN for chips and packaged devices that can handle more power in a smaller space while producing less heat than other available technologies, materials and products. Cree drives its increased performance technology into multiple applications, including exciting alternatives in brighter and more-tunable light for general illumination, backlighting for more-vivid displays, optimized power management for high-current, switch-mode power supplies and variable-speed motors, and more-effective wireless infrastructure for data and voice communications.

Cree customers range from innovative lighting fixtures makers to defense-related federal agencies. Cree’s product families include blue and green LED chips, lighting LEDs, LED backlighting solutions, power-switching devices and radio-frequency/wireless devices. For product specifications please refer to www.cree.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements involving risks and uncertainties, both known and unknown, that may cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated. Actual results may differ materially due to a number of factors, such as the risk we may encounter delays or other difficulties in ramping up production of our new products; the risk we may be unable to manufacture products with sufficiently low cost to offer them at competitive prices or with acceptable margins; the rapid development of new technology and competing products that may impair demand or render our products obsolete; the potential lack of customer acceptance for the products; variations in demand for Cree’s products and its customers’ products; and other factors discussed in Cree’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 25, 2006, and subsequent filings.

Contact:
Deb Lovig
Marketing Communications
Cree, Inc.
Deb_Lovig@cree.com