IQE is the leading global outsource supplier of customized epitaxial wafers to the semiconductor industry.

Their technology is of most advanced like AFM means Atomic Force Microscopy and moves a minuscule cantilever over an objects surface, a sharp tip passes over dips or rises punched in the surface and reads out digital information. This technology is not going to slow down it is going to speed up and has to replace most existing forms of memory storage by virtue of capacity and size.

The future of nano-technology, these tiny/minute robots would need very small processors and most sure strained silicon could provide these.

The low share price is due to uncertainty as to when the cash will run out, but I don't think this will happen as cash is of 12 to 15M and NAV of 30p, and losses are going to drop on the next 3 month and we could have profits on the Q4 2004.

Latest news from the Chairman were" The Group remains confident that it is in a strong position within the outsourcing market, although the protection of its cash position is paramount.
With a broad product portfolio allowing the customer base to use IQE as a 'one stop shop', a large available production capacity and a strong balance sheet, the Board believes the Group will benefit strongly as the overall semiconductor industry recovers and will continue to strengthen its position as the leading outsource supplier of advanced wafer products to the sector. "

Nearly all the recent results have been encouraging. Q4 accounts are being completed (30th Dec 2002). IQE know where they stand, if things had got worse their would have been a trading statement by now, and with Amberwave (IQE's partner) increasing its Asian presence, this is a bullish trend and a good point to pick up the shares @ 4.25p

Intraday

5 month MA and Indicators

Vague speculation about takeover interest according to the FT

I'm not sure about that. When I had a look it mentioned Jan 13 2011 that these rumours occurred and not 2012 ! At any rate it is up again this morning.

The interesting thing, is the rumours of this time last year occurred when the price was 54 pence, which of course was more than twice the current price.

now up over 40% from yesterday , and still no news. Mind you, why the price fell so far in the first place was a bit of a mystery!

! ! ! = ?

IQE plc : Year end trading update
HUG
Year on year growth in sales and profits

Cardiff, UK, 18 January 2012: IQE plc (AIM: IQE, "IQE" or the "Group"), the leading global supplier of advanced semiconductor wafer products and services to the semiconductor industry, provides a trading update for the year ended 31 December 2011.

Full year revenues for 2011 are expected to exceed £75 million, up from £73 million the previous year. EBITDA is also expected to increase to be not less than £13.7 million. Net debt is expected to be less than £4 million.

Sales grew rapidly in the first half, driven by strong double-digit growth in the Group's wireless and optoelectronics divisions. Growth in wireless sales reflected the increasing adoption and sophistication of portable devices such as smartphones and tablets using Gallium Arsenide ("GaAs") technology, and by the increasing adoption of advanced Gallium Nitride ("GaN") technology in high power wireless applications such as radar and infrastructure. Growth in optoelectronic sales was driven by a wide variety of applications including consumer, industrial and advanced high efficiency solar power applications.

As announced in October, second half sales were adversely affected by inventory corrections in the supply chain related to market share swings amongst a couple of IQE's key customers. These inventory corrections have unwound as expected, and should be fully resolved by the end of the first quarter of 2012.

The Group's long standing strategy to qualify multiple products with multiple customers across the entire supply chain went some way toward offsetting the impact of the market share shifts. As further qualifications complete the future impact of market share shifts will continue to diminish.

New product qualifications have progressed well, with significant milestones now achieved. The Group has successfully qualified its leading edge BiHEMT product with one of the top three Japanese mobile chip manufacturers, which has recently announced a major expansion programme in the smartphone market. Sales under this qualification have started to ramp, and this customer is expected to move into IQE's "top 10" during the second half.

IQE is also in the final stages of qualification of BiHEMT products with two of the leading wireless chip manufacturers globally and expects to ramp into production during the second quarter. In addition, the Group is qualifying a number of next-generation wireless products with a significant number of customers.

IQE's business is also being driven by increasing demand across the Group's other core markets including advanced semiconductor materials for optoelectronic products which continued to enjoy strong growth driven by a range of existing and emerging end market applications which are expected to account for an increased proportion of the Group's 2012 full-year revenues.

Dr Drew Nelson, IQE's Chief Executive, said:

"2011 has been another positive year for the Group, with increased sales and profits to record levels, despite challenging supply chain and macro-economic conditions.

"Our core business of wireless-related products for all forms of mobile communications is performing as expected whilst new and emerging products for consumer, industrial and defence applications are generating demand across all our key markets.

"We have added to our manufacturing capacity during the year and expect to benefit strongly from some significant operational achievements including best in class quality improvements to our products. This will enable improved customer output and increased throughput from our own production tools and lead to continued improvements in operational and financial metrics.

"The Board remains confident that IQE is well positioned to build further on its robust business model and powerful market position to deliver strong growth in 2012 and beyond."

IQE expects to report its preliminary results in late March 2012.

Contacts:


IQE plc (+44 29 2083 9400

IQE plc : IQE acquires in-house MBE epitaxy man...
HUG
Cardiff, UK, 5 June 2012: IQE plc (AIM: IQE, "IQE" or the "Group"), the leading global supplier of advanced semiconductor wafer products and wafer services to the semiconductor industry, has signed a multi-faceted agreement to acquire the entire in-house MBE epi-wafer manufacturing unit of RFMD (Nasdaq:RFMD), a global leader in the design and manufacture of high performance RF components and compound semiconductor technologies, and has secured a long-term wafer supply agreement for exclusive provision of all of RFMD's MBE wafers and for provision of a majority of RFMD's MOCVD wafer requirements.

Highlights

IQE acquires fully furnished epi manufacturing plant, including 16 operational MBE tools
Seven-year wafer supply agreement
Significantly extends leadership position in wireless industry supply
Powerful position in CPV market with up to $35m revenue capacity for CPV wafers
Consideration effectively funded through future wafer discounts
Immediately earnings enhancing, significantly earnings accretive in future years
Dr Drew Nelson, President and CEO of IQE, said

"This landmark agreement with RFMD, one of the true global leaders in the wireless semiconductor industry, provides us with a significant step up in our manufacturing capacity, bringing substantial financial and scale benefits to the Group. This is a clear win-win for both organisations.

"The deal secures IQE world class epi-wafer production assets and staff, together with a long term wafer supply agreement, further strengthening our leadership position in the supply of wafers to the global wireless industry.

"The spare capacity currently existing within the transferred facilities will be applied to the manufacture of CPV solar wafers, enabling IQE to rapidly build a global leadership position in the supply of wafers for the burgeoning CPV sector as a result of our previously announced agreement and exclusive supply contract with CPV technology partner Solar Junction."

Strategic rationale

The assets being transferred to IQE include a fully fitted clean room of over 90,000 sq.ft, 16 MBE manufacturing systems and equipment, all housed in a 135,000 sq.ft. stand-alone building in Greensboro, North Carolina. The value of the transferred assets is approximately $27 million. The local management and employees for the unit (consisting of 70 people) will also transfer directly to IQE.

There will be no upfront cash outlay for the transfer of the assets, resulting in no IQE shareholder dilution. In exchange for the transfer of the assets, the parties have agreed to a long term wafer supply agreement with a minimum purchase commitment of $55m over the first two years, whereby IQE will supply all MBE wafer requirements and a majority of RFMD's MOCVD wafer requirements under a discounted pricing arrangement.

The transaction will result in major enhancements across all key Group activities, particularly in our products for the wireless sector through increased purchasing power and greater manufacturing efficiencies.

IQE intends to use unallocated capacity from this facility to rapidly accelerate its wafer supply to meet the dramatically growing demand for CPV Solar products in relation to the technology transfer and exclusive wafer supply agreement with Solar Junction, announced earlier this year. This is expected to allow the wafer production of solar products of up to $35 million annually without the need for significant up-front capital expenditures by IQE.

The transaction will be immediately revenue and earnings enhancing to IQE, whilst free cash flow generation will reflect the discounted wafer pricing agreed between the parties.

Similarly, RFMD expects the outsourced wafer supply model to improve its operating performance by lowering its manufacturing costs, improving its return on invested capital, and supporting more predictable financial results.

The transaction is expected to close within a few days

IQE completes acquisition of in-house MBE epita...
HUG
Cardiff, UK, 11 June 2012: IQE plc (AIM: IQE, "IQE" or the "Group"), the leading global supplier of advanced semiconductor wafer products and wafer services to the semiconductor industry, has completed the acquisition of the entire in-house MBE epi-wafer manufacturing unit of RFMD (Nasdaq:RFMD), a global leader in the design and manufacture of high performance RF components and compound semiconductor technologies, and has secured a long-term wafer supply agreement for exclusive provision of all of RFMD's MBE wafers and for provision of a majority of RFMD's MOCVD wafer requirements.

Dr Drew Nelson, President and CEO of IQE, said

"This landmark deal secures IQE world class epi-wafer production assets and staff, together with a long term wafer supply agreement with one of the true global leaders in the wireless market. This dealfurther strengthens IQE's leadership position in the supply of wafers to the global wireless industry and enables IQE to rapidly build a global leadership position in the supply of wafers for the burgeoning CPV sector."

IQE enhances test and measurement capabilities ...
HUG

Cardiff, UK, 13 June 2012: IQE plc (AIM: IQE, "IQE" or the "Group"), the leading global supplier of advanced semiconductor wafer products and services to the semiconductor industry, has enhanced wafer inspection capabilities at its Cardiff facility with the acquisition of a new automated wafer inspection tool supplied by Ohio based Nanotronics Imaging.

The nSPEC(TM) tool enhances existing manual microscopy inspection by allowing automated loading and scanning of III-V semiconductor wafer products including GaN, GaAs and InP based materials. The tool has built in intelligence to enable repeatable and quantifiable object recognition to identify, categorize and record wafer features in real-time.

The acquisition of the tool by IQE for use in its cleanroom facilities in Cardiff, UK, follows an extensive six month evaluation where the reliability and repeatability was compared with existing inspection techniques. This is the second nSPEC(TM) tool to be installed at IQE, the first unit having been commissioned and in use at the Group's manufacturing facility in Somerset, New Jersey.

Eliot Parkinson, General Manager of IQE's III-V manufacturing facility in Cardiff commented: "The new automated inspection system offers a compelling alternative to manual microscope inspection, with greater repeatability and significantly reduced chance of human error."

Matthew Putman, CEO of Nanotronics Imaging, said: "Rapid inspection that gives repeatable and useful results needs to be thought of as a modern technology like the personal computer used to be, and the smart phone is now. What has traditionally been too expensive, too complicated, and provided too little relevant information now needs to have all required features and more so that all companies using wafer inspection tools can have best in class technology that is affordable. We are at a point of technological convergence, where our engineers can develop such a tool. We are also pleased to have worked with a global leader IQE to evaluate our tool in a high volume, semiconductor wafer manufacturing environment

IQE

Countdown to results later this
month.

IQE looks very cheap for the chip
market.

Growth in EPS of 54.6p for 2013

Forward P/E of just 10.9 for 2013
far too cheap.

IQE PLC

Broker Views

FORECASTS 2012 2013
Date Rec Pre-tax (£) EPS (p) DPS (p) Pre-tax (£) EPS (p) DPS (p)

Peel Hunt
31-08-12 BUY 9.26 1.60 16.10 2.71 3.00
Singer Capital Markets Ltd
31-08-12 BUY 8.60 1.70 15.10 2.70
Investec Securities
17-08-12 HOLD 8.60 1.40 14.90 2.50
Canaccord Genuity Ltd
06-08-12 BUY 10.00 1.70 13.70 2.20
Edison Investment Research
25-07-12 None 8.60 1.40 12.95 2.10
FinnCap
25-07-12 BUY 9.40 1.80 14.90 2.60
Numis Securities Ltd [R]
18-01-12 HOLD 1.20 1.80

2012 2013
Pre-tax (£) EPS (p) DPS (p) Pre-tax (£) EPS (p) DPS (p
)
Consensus 9.08 1.61 14.69 2.49 3.00
1 Month Change -0.03 0.00 0.06 0.02 0.00
3 Month Change 0.46 0.03 3.12 0.43 0.00


GROWTH
2011 (A) 2012 (E) 2013 (E)

Norm. EPS 6.35% 7.49% 54.60%
DPS % % %

INVESTMENT RATIOS
2011 (A) 2012 (E) 2013 (E)

EBITDA £12.60m £16.71m £24.25m
EBIT £7.30m £9.00m £15.80m
Dividend Yield % % 11.01%
Dividend Cover x x 0.83x
PER 18.19x 16.92x 10.95x
PEG 2.87f 2.26f 0.20f
Net Asset Value PS 6.95p 16.40p 18.90p


Hemscott Premium.

As you say Goldfinger "Cheap as chips" Iva got plenty all wraped up.

All you need then is the forthcoming fish. he he.

And let us hope that it is a whale and not a carp!

IQE interim management statement dated 25/7/12 indicated revenues of £34m ebitda £4m and debt of <£8m for the half year to 30/6 2012.

he he.......hey carp is considered a delicacy in china.

Broker brief late yesterday....

13 Sep IQE PLC IQE Espirito Santo Execution Noble Buy 26.00 25.75 40.00 40.00 Reiterates

40p SP target.

On Wednesday it will be the turn of semiconductor wafer products specialist IQE to reveal interim results, and after July's Trading statement, we shouldn't be in for any shocks. The firm is expecting to report around £34m in first-half revenues and to extract EBITDA of about £4m from that. Net debt is forecast to come in around £8m, and the board said they were confident about meeting full year expectations.

With the shares trading at 26.5p, current forecasts suggest a P/E of around 17, which is a bit above the market average of around 14. But this is a small growth company with a market cap of only £160m, so it could look cheap from that perspective. In fact, 2013 forecasts suggest a 50% growth in earnings, bring the P/E down to 11, and we should be on for the start of dividend payments.

This looks like a high-tech possibility to me.

IQE plc : IQE secures major order for advanced ...
HUG
Cardiff, UK, 4 December 2012: IQE plc (AIM: IQE, "IQE" or the "Group"), the leading global supplier of advanced semiconductor wafer products and services to the semiconductor industry, has received its first single order valued at more than £1 million for advanced laser wafers to enable a new generation of fibre-optic communications devices.

This order is to be delivered during the first half of 2013 with further significant follow-on orders expected, driven by strong demand in China for datacentre applications and infrastructure build out. The wafers will be produced at IQE's Cardiff manufacturing facility utilising its state-of-the-art 100mm InP platforms.

Optical interconnects are on the brink of rapid growth driven by strongly increasing demand for "big data" applications across data centres, fibre-to-the-home (FTTH), backbone interconnection of 4G/LTE base stations and active optical cable (AOC) interconnects between computers and peripheral consumer electronic devices, to replace current copper USB2 cables.

Dr Drew Nelson, President and CEO of IQE, said:

"IQE has established a clear leadership position in the design and supply of advanced semiconductor wafers for a wide range of optoelectronic applications. This latest order for a new range of low-cost, high-performance optical fibre components marks a key milestone in the adoption of optical interconnects for a range of high volume applications."

CONTACTS:

IQE plc (+44 29 2083 9400)
Press/Investors: Chris Meadows
Technical: Dr Wynne Jones

Note to Editors

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 mobile handsets and wireless infrastructure, Wi-Fi, WiMAX, base stations, GPS, and satellite communications; optical communications. The Group also manufactures advanced optoelectronic and photonic components such as semiconductor lasers, vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) and optical sensors for a wide range of applications including optical storage (CD, DVD, BluRay), thermal imaging, leading-edge medical products, pico-projection, finger navigation ultra-high brightness LEDs, 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 nine facilities located in Cardiff (two), Milton Keynes and Bath in the UK; in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Somerset, New Jersey, Greensboro, North Carolina and Spokane, Washington in the USA; and Singapore. The Group also has 11 sales offices located in major economic centres worldwide.

IQE plc : Key CPV Solar Technology Process Tran...
HUG
Cardiff, UK. 6 December 2012. IQE plc (AIM: IQE, "IQE" or the "Group"), the leading global supplier of advanced semiconductor wafer products and services to the semiconductor industry, today announces the achievement of several key technology transfer milestones that represent highly significant progress in its commercial relationship with Solar Junction.

In February 2012, IQE announced an exclusive manufacturing and technology transfer agreement with Solar Junction and laid out a series of milestones. These milestones were designed to culminate in the delivery of full 3Junction (3J) structures to Solar Junction based on successful installation and commissioning of customized production scale MBE tools, and subsequent technology transfer from Solar Junction. Completion of this was planned for the fourth quarter of 2012.

IQE and Solar Junction are pleased to announce the successful completion of these milestones and the delivery of full 3J wafers using the transferred process to Solar Junction. Commercial production is expected to begin in the first half of 2013, initially with customer product qualification quantities, moving to volume production in the second half of the year.

Independently, Solar Junction has successfully qualified its cells to full IEC specifications with several customers, and is strongly engaged with all leading CPV systems houses.

Dr Drew Nelson, IQE Chief Executive, said:

"Our deal with Solar Junction earlier this year will significantly accelerate our well established CPV strategy and position us to become the key epiwafer supplier to the CPV market. The combination of Solar Junction's core materials IP and technology, with its recently improved world record efficiencies of 44%, together with our own IP and manufacturing capabilities, provides a compelling route to significantly higher cell efficiency and cost effective, high volume production for the CPV industry.

"That combination is now all but complete and we are on track to move to commercial volume production during 2013.

"As we approach the end of our financial year, we are also confident that we will meet our earnings expectations. The transformational deals completed with Solar Junction and RFMD earlier this year are highly complementary and position the Group for accelerating growth in rapidly expanding markets."

IQE will chip in big returns

You won’t have heard of IQE, but the chances are high that you use its products every day. The group makes a key component of microchips called Gallium Arsenide, which allows chips that contain it to run faster and consume less power.


With demand for higher efficiency and faster connections growing, IQE is likely to see its products in strong demand. It also supplies the same material to solar panel manufacturers. Shares are currently at 28.5p, and have risen more than 40 per cent in the last 12 months.


Analysts say it could easily put on another 60 per cent this year – with the potential for even bigger gains if Intel comes along with its chequebook.


Read more: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-2254395/2013-SHARE-TIPS-The-Mails-city-reporters-reveal-picks-coming-year.html#ixzz2GX0XF8si
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Bought in last week, daily mail share tip for 2013.
">http://