In an interview Thursday, Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente said while there were signs Wolfspeed was slowing down, he did not know the extent of the company's financial problems depicted in a Wall Street Journal report this week.

The silicone carbide chipmaker, which Picente says employs 400-500 at Marcy Nanocenter, is preparing to file for bankruptcy within weeks after efforts to restructure its debt out of court collapsed, the Journal reported Tuesday.

While Wolfspeed's sinking stock price and recent change in leadership offered clues to issues, the county did not know a potential bankruptcy announcement was coming, Picente said. He speculated the declining fortunes of electric vehicles may have hurt Wolfspeed's business trajectory because it is prominent in its work.

But Picente said the company's Marcy fab was still producing, and there has been no report of layoffs at the site.

“While it is a surprise, it’s not putting us in panic mode right now,” Picente said, adding that some companies that restructure debt can bounce back. “We're going to be patient, wait and see, and the hope is they can get through this bubble.”

Wolfspeed stock fell Wednesday morning following a Wall Street Journal report stating it would soon pursue Chapter 11.

Wolfspeed opened its Marcy fab as the first tenant of Marcy Nanocenter three years ago with a goal of employing 600 people by 2029.

Located on the SUNY Polytechnic Institute campus, Wolfspeed operates a silicon carbide fabrication facility that public officials have held up as a major piece of the burgeoning tech economy in Central New York.

In announcing $750 million in federal CHIPS funding for the company in October, Sen. Chuck Schumer said Wolfspeed would help the Mohawk Valley lead America’s semiconductor renaissance, and create long-term, good-paying jobs. 

The funding was meant to boost Wolfspeed’s upstate expansion, and help build a North Carolina facility to send chip wafers to the Marcy Nanocenter to be finished.