IQE PLC Iqe's Wireless Business Unit Renews Major Contract With Tier 1 Customer

 
TIDMIQE 
 
 
   IQE plc 
 
   IQE's Wireless Business Unit renews major contract with Tier 1 Customer 
 
   Cardiff, UK. 24(th)  July 2018: IQE plc (AIM: IQE; "IQE", the "Group"), 
the leading global supplier of advanced wafer products and wafer 
services to the semiconductor industry, announces that it has 
successfully renegotiated its long-term supply contract with a premier 
tier one customer for the supply of wafer products used in wireless 
applications, and in doing so extended the range of products covered and 
increased the overall IQE share of the customers' epiwafer requirements 
. The contract is estimated to be worth in the order of USD60 million 
through to September 2019. 
 
   The supply contract guarantees IQE 80% of the customer's demand for 
epiwafers and underlines the strength of the long-term customer 
relationship that IQE has developed over many years, having consistently 
been recognised as one of the customer's best performing suppliers. 
 
   IQE's Wireless segment continues to leverage its global manufacturing 
facilities to fulfill the supply contract from its North American 
facilities in Massachusetts, and North Carolina, as well as its main 
wireless manufacturing site in Taiwan. 
 
   The contract covers epiwafer products for radio frequency (RF) 
applications including power amplifiers (PAs), low noise amplifiers 
(LNAs) and switches used in a wide range of connected devices such 
smartphones, tablets, PCs, routers and other Internet of Things (IoT) 
devices. Demand for compound semiconductor enabled devices is expected 
to underpin the roll-out of 5G over the coming years. 
 
   Daily Hill, Head of IQE's Wireless Business Unit said: 
 
   "This contract revewal confirms our position as a clear technology 
leader and the number one choice for advanced semiconductor products for 
wireless applications. 
 
   "IQE's epiwafer products have been behind the global adoption of 4G/LTE 
and WiFi systems and this major supply contract underlines the 
world-leading performance which IQE products provide for current and 
next-generation wireless applications including the global roll-out of 
5G." 
 
   Contacts: 
 
 
 
 
IQE plc 
 Drew Nelson 
 Chris Meadows       [phone] 
Canaccord Genuity 
 Simon Bridges 
 Richard Andrews    + 44 (0) 20 7523 8000 
Peel Hunt 
 Edward Knight 
 Nick Prowting       [phone] 
 
   NOTE TO EDITORS 
 
 
 
   About IQE 
 
   https://www.globenewswire.com/Tracker?data=1z3iWXqXP2WlCFLNSjTpGB7opzVU0NccRXUHMv-xQI0_2TuY44tqUdT32KcDACJS9F8cB_4FeO9V-ZavMPnrGg== 
http://iqep.com 
 
   IQE is the leading global supplier of advanced semiconductor wafers with 
products that cover a diverse range of applications, supported by an 
innovative outsourced foundry services portfolio that allows the Group 
to provide a 'one stop shop' for the wafer needs of the world's leading 
semiconductor manufacturers. 
 
   IQE uses advanced crystal growth technology (epitaxy) to manufacture and 
supply bespoke semiconductor wafers 'epi-wafers' to the major chip 
manufacturing companies, who then use these wafers to make the chips 
which form the key components of virtually all high technology systems. 
IQE is unique in being able to supply wafers using all of the leading 
crystal growth technology platforms. 
 
   IQE's products are found in many leading-edge consumer, communication, 
computing and industrial applications, including a complete range of 
wafer products for the wireless industry, such as smartphones and 
wireless infrastructure, Wi-Fi, base stations, GPS, and satellite 
communications; optical communications, optical storage, printing, 
thermal imagers, leading-edge medical products, barcode, ultra high 
brightness LEDs, a variety of advanced silicon based systems and high 
efficiency concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) solar cells. 
 
   The manufacturers of these chips are increasingly seeking to outsource 
wafer production to specialist foundries such as IQE in order to reduce 
overall wafer costs and accelerate time to market. 
 
   IQE also provides bespoke R&D services to deliver customised materials 
for specific applications and offers specialist technical staff to 
manufacture to specification either at its own facilities or on the 
customer's own sites. The Group is also able to leverage its global 
purchasing volumes to reduce the cost of raw materials. In this way 
IQE's outsourced services, provide compelling benefits in terms of 
flexibility and predictability of cost, thereby significantly reducing 
operating risk. 
 
   IQE operates multiple manufacturing and R&D facilities worldwide. 
 
 
 
 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 24, 2018 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.