Cree Expands XQ LED Family to Deliver Lower System Cost

DURHAM, N.C.-- Cree, Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE) expands its industry-leading portfolio of lighting-class LEDs with the addition of the XLamp^® XQ-A LED to the XQ LED family. The compact, ceramic-based XQ-A enables lighting manufacturers to quickly and cost-effectively expand their product portfolios by leveraging an LED design that is similar to that of the proven and reliable XQ-E. With a broad range of color options and optical symmetry, the XQ-A LED is the smallest LED building block available for designs that use white and color LEDs.

“The introduction of the XQ-A LED gives us more options to increase the capability of our machine vision and industrial LED lights using the same compact XQ package that we know and like," said Matt Pinter, co-founder and lead design engineer for Smart Vision Lights. “Unlike mid-power color LEDs, the compact, ceramic-based XQ-A LED will allow us to put two, three or even four LEDs under our new silicone lens technology where we could only use one LED before. This generates more light for industrial applications without compromising lifetime.”

The ceramic XQ-A LED delivers lighting-class reliability, quality and long-life performance comparable to Cree’s other ceramic high-power LEDs such as the high performing XP and XT. The new LEDs leverage the proven XQ platform to provide optical symmetry, consistency across all colors and tiny 1.6mm footprint to improve color mixing and simplify the production process for lighting manufacturers.

“At Cree, we continue to deliver innovative products that enable our customers to differentiate their products in the marketplace,” said Dave Emerson, vice president and general manager for Cree LEDs. “The ceramic-based XQ-A LED family allows designers to offer high quality solutions that do not compromise lifetime or affordability.”

The XQ-A delivers up to 89 lumens and is characterized at 85°C. It is available in white color temperatures ranging from 2700K to 6200K and CRI options of 70, 80 and 90. The LED is also available in red, red-orange, PC amber, green, blue and royal blue.

Product samples are available now and production quantities are available with standard lead times.

Please visit www.cree.com/xlamp/xqa for more information on Cree^® XLamp XQ-A LEDs.

About Cree

Cree is leading the LED lighting revolution and making energy-wasting traditional lighting technologies obsolete through the use of energy-efficient, mercury-free LED lighting. Cree is a market-leading innovator of lighting-class LEDs, LED lighting, and semiconductor products for power and radio frequency (RF) applications.

Cree’s product families include LED fixtures and bulbs, blue and green LED chips, high-brightness LEDs, lighting-class power LEDs, power-switching devices and RF devices. Cree^® products are driving improvements in applications such as general illumination, backlighting, electronic signs and signals, power suppliers and solar inverters.

Please refer to www.cree.com for additional product and company information.

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, including the risk that actual savings and lifetimes will vary from expectations; the risk we may be unable to manufacture these new products with sufficiently low cost to offer them at competitive prices or with acceptable margins; the risk we may encounter delays or other difficulties in ramping up production of our new products; customer acceptance of our new products; the rapid development of new technology and competing products that may impair demand or render Cree’s products obsolete; 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 28, 2015, and subsequent filings.

Cree^® and XLamp^® are registered trademarks of Cree, Inc.

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Cree, Inc.
Claire Simmons, 919-407-7844
Corporate Communications
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