Breakthrough Innovation Provides Rapid Payback of Less than a Year While Outperforming Traditional Lighting

DURHAM, N.C.  – Building upon the success of the CR Series downlights, Cree, Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE) introduces Cree® Full Definition CR4™ and CR6™ downlights – the ideal luminaire to replace outdated incandescent four- and six-inch recessed downlights. Featuring a warm-white 2700K color temperature, dimming and better than 80 CRI, the Full Definition downlights are ideal for applications that require good light quality and low initial cost.

“Cree is committed to delivering customers the LED lighting solution needed to fit their budgets and applications,” said Greg Merritt, vice president, lighting at Cree. “The new Full Definition CR downlights cost less than fluorescent alternatives and also use 20-30 percent less energy compared to the outdated CFLs they replace. With the low initial investment and good light quality, customers should never need to install an outdated fluorescent or incandescent downlight again.”

The breakthrough innovation combines Cree’s latest advancements in LEDs and driver design with full-system thermal and electrical integration to virtually eliminate initial cost barriers to LED adoption. The new CR Full Definition luminaires can deliver payback against incandescent downlights in less than one year in many installations and are offered at a price-point that is up to 25 percent less than Cree’s comparable 90 CRI products.*

For customers who require a higher CRI, Cree is also expanding the existing CR Series LED downlights to include new color temperature and light quality options. The CR Series now offers 3000K, 3500K and 4000K color temperatures, in addition to the existing 2700K offer – all featuring a CRI of 90 or more.

The Cree CR4 Full Definition downlight delivers up to 575 lumens and the CR6 Full Definition downlight delivers up to 625 lumens. Both models feature 2700k color temperature and are dimmable to five percent with most standard incandescent dimmers. The Full Definition downlights are qualified for both residential and commercial ENERGY STAR® standards. This higher standard of performance opens up opportunities for more incentives and rebates available from utilities and other entities – further lowering price and barriers to mass LED adoption.

The Full Definition CR4 and CR6 downlights are sold through Cree lighting sales channels and are available now. Please visit www.cree.com/lighting/CRSeriesDownlights to learn more.


* Based on typical commercial usage of 9 hours per day and $0.11 per kWh electric costs and virtually zero maintenance.
 

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, electronic signs and signals, power supplies and solar inverters.

For additional product and company information, please refer to www.cree.com/lighting.
To learn more about the LED Lighting Revolution, please visit www.creeledrevolution.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, including the risk that actual savings will vary from expectations; the risk that 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 LED 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 24, 2012, and subsequent filings.


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Cree® is a registered trademark, and CR4™ and CR6™ are trademarks of Cree, Inc.,

ENERGY STAR® is a registered trademark of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.