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| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| AIM:IQE | |
| Industry | Semiconductors |
| Founded | 1988; 37 years ago (1988) inCardiff, Wales,UK |
| Founders |
|
| Headquarters | , United Kingdom  |
Area served | Global |
Key people | Jutta Meier (Interim CEO and CFO) |
| Products | Epitaxial wafers |
| Revenue |  £167.5 million (2021) |
 £−72.9 million (2021) | |
| £−74.5 million (2021) | |
| Total assets | £296.1 million (2021) |
| Total equity | £175.1 million (2021) |
Number of employees | 685 (end 2021) |
| Website | iqep |
| Footnotes / references [1] | |
IQE PLC is a Britishsemiconductor company founded 1988 inCardiff, Wales, which manufactures advancedepitaxial wafers.
The company is headquartered in Cardiff with an Innovation Centre and factories inNewport, Wales,Cardiff, Wales andMilton Keynes in the United Kingdom;Taunton, Massachusetts,Greensboro, North Carolina, andSpokane, Washington in the United States; andTaiwan in Asia.[2]
IQE was founded by Drew Nelson and Michael Scott in 1988 asEpitaxial Products International (EPI). Initially, the company specialised in producingepitaxial wafers for optoelectronic devices used primarily infiber-optic communication.Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) technology was used to producesemiconductor lasers,light-emitting diodes (LEDs) andphotodetectors designed to operate at wavelengths of 1300 nm and 1550 nm utilised for long distance fiber-optic communications.[3]
In 1999, Epitaxial Products International merged with Pennsylvania-based Quantum Epitaxial Designs (QED) to form IQE.[4] QED was founded by Tom Hierl.[5]
Also in 1999, the newly merged entity underwent aninitial public offering (IPO) on the European EASDAQ (NASDAQ Europe) stock exchange, followed a year later by a listing on theLondon Stock Exchange.[citation needed]
The merger with QED brought to the group a range of new manufacturing tools based onmolecular beam epitaxy (MBE) technology and a range of products for thewireless telecommunications. Following the merger, IQE became the first independent outsource manufacturer of both optoelectronic and radio frequency (RF) epitaxial wafers produced using both MOCVD and MBE technologies. The Bethlehem facility specialised in a number of wireless products includingpseudomorphic high electron mobility transistors (pHEMTs) andmetal semiconductor field-effect transistors (MESFETs).[citation needed]
In 2000, the company formed a new, wholly owned subsidiary company specialising in silicon based epitaxy. IQE Silicon was established in a new facility adjacent to the group's headquarters and European manufacturing base inCardiff, Wales, UK. The new subsidiary usedchemical vapor deposition (CVD) tools to producesilicon andgermanium epitaxial wafers for enhanced silicon processing performance,microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) andnanotechnology applications.[6]
Also in 2000, the group acquired Wafer Technology based inMilton Keynes, UK. The acquisition provided the group with in-house production ofgallium arsenide (GaAs) andindium phosphide (InP) substrates as well as adding capabilities forgallium antimonide (GaSb) andindium antimonide (InSb) forinfrared applications.[7]
In 2006, the Group acquired the Electronic Materials Division from Emcore, providing IQE with its second US operation based in Somerset, NJ. This acquisition added further MOCVD capacity and complementary radio frequency (RF) products includingheterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) andbipolar field-effect transistors (BiFETs).[8]
Also in 2006, the group made a further acquisition in the form ofSingapore based MBET technologies which provided the group with complete multi-site, multi-technology and multi-product capabilities to form the world's largest independent contract manufacturer of epitaxial wafers.[9]In 2009 the group added new free-standinggallium nitride (GaN) substrate capability with the acquisition of NanoGaN, a spin out start-up from theUniversity of Bath.[10][11]
In 2012, IQE Group acquired Galaxy Compound Semiconductors, based inSpokane, Washington, US, and MBE epitaxy manufacturing unit of RFMD, based inGreensboro, North Carolina, US.[12]
The company made astock exchange announcement on 12 November 2018 that shipments of its product would be materially reduced, also materially affecting profitability, causing the share price to plunge.[13]
The joint venture CSDC was acquired by IQE in October 2019. IQE had held 51% of shares through MBE Technologies at the time it was formed in March 2015.[14][15]
IQE produces epitaxail wafers fromgallium arsenide (GaAs),gallium nitride (GaN) as well asindium phosphide (InP) and silicon. The wafers made from GaAs and GaN have a diameter of 8 inches and can be used forMicroLED displays, while the 6 inch InP wafers are aimed atelectro-optic devices.[16][17][18]