Fortune's 100 Fastest-Growing Companies (CREE #11)
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Not far down the road from RF Micro, in Durham, N.C., executives at Cree (No. 11) are busy trying to capitalize on their position as the leading producer of ... the color blue. That's no joke. Among its 71 patents, Cree has a virtual monopoly on the blue light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, that help backlight car dashboards, cell phone displays, and even outdoor billboards. Cree's semiconductors are essential to the wireless world. In July, the company closed the books on a fiscal year that saw profits jump 145%, to $30.5 million, on sales of $109 million. The company's hold on blue is such that analysts forecast similar growth ahead: Cree should be perfectly
positioned as new LED applications (in new, "smarter" appliances, for example) come to market. |
