Apollo Leading More Than $1 Billion Debt Deal in Chipmaker Wolfspeed

A group of investors led by Apollo Global Management is making a more than $1 billion debt investment in Wolfspeed, a publicly traded semiconductor maker with a $6 billion market capitalization, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

The deal could be announced in the coming days and would be one of the largest direct lending deals of the year that doesn’t involve a takeover. Direct lending—when private equity firms and other investors lend money in place of banks—has taken off in the past year. The deal would add to private equity’s continuing push into the electric vehicle industry, giving Apollo exposure to a key provider of chips that give EVs longer ranges.