Holding(s) in Company

1 December 2009
For immediate release

                               IQE plc
                      ("IQE" or the "Company")

                        Holding(s) in Company




+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| TR-1: Notifications of Major Interests in Shares                  |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|                                                  | IQE PLC        |
| 1. Identity of the issuer or the underlying      |                |
| issuer of existing shares to which voting rights |                |
| are attached:                                    |                |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|                                                                   |
| 2. Reason for notification (yes/no)                               |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
| An acquisition or disposal of voting rights                | Yes  |
|                                                            |      |
|------------------------------------------------------------+------|
| An acquisition or disposal of financial instruments which  | No   |
| may result in the acquisition of shares already issued to  |      |
| which voting rights are attached                           |      |
|------------------------------------------------------------+------|
| An acquisition or disposal of instruments will similar     | No   |
| economic effect to qualifying financial instruments        |      |
|------------------------------------------------------------+------|
|                                                            | No   |
| An event changing the breakdown of voting rights           |      |
|------------------------------------------------------------+------|
|                                                            | No   |
| Other (please specify):______________                      |      |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|                                       | FIL Limited               |
| 3. Full name of person(s) subject to  |                           |
| notification obligation:              |                           |
|---------------------------------------+---------------------------|
|                                       | See attached schedule     |
| 4. Full name of shareholder(s) (if    |                           |
| different from 3):                    |                           |
|---------------------------------------+---------------------------|
|                                       | 25th November 2009        |
| 5. Date of transaction (and date on   |                           |
| which the threshold is crossed or     |                           |
| reached if different):                |                           |
|---------------------------------------+---------------------------|
|                                       | 27th November 2009        |
| 6. Date on which issuer notified:     |                           |
|---------------------------------------+---------------------------|
|                                       | 5%                        |
| 7. Threshold(s) that is/are crossed   |                           |
| or reached:                           |                           |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+





+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|8: Notified Details                                                                             |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|A: Voting rights attached to shares                                                             |
|                                                                                                |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Class/type of|Situation previous to the    |Resulting situation after the triggering transaction|
|shares       |triggering transaction       |                                                    |
|If possible  |-----------------------------+----------------------------------------------------|
|use ISIN code|Number of   |Number of voting|Number of    |Number of voting    |Percentage of    |
|             |shares      |rights          |shares       |rights              |voting rights    |
|             |            |                |             |--------------------+-----------------|
|             |            |19,766,900      |             |Direct  |Indirect   |Direct |Indirect |
|             |19,766,900  |                | 22,741,311  |        |           |       |         |
|GB0009619924 |            |                |             |        |22,741,311 |       |5.12%    |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+



+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|B: Financial Instruments                                                   |
|                                                                           |
|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Resulting situation after the triggering transaction                       |
|                                                                           |
|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Type of   |Expiration|Exercise/  |No. of voting rights that may |Percentage|
|financial |date      |conversion |be acquired (if the instrument|of voting |
|instrument|          |period/date|exercised/converted)          |rights    |
|----------+----------+-----------+------------------------------+----------|
|          |          |           |                              |          |
|          |          |           |                              |          |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                                                                |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|C: Financial Instruments with similar economic effect to Qualifying Financial   |
|Instruments xv, xvi                                                             |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Resulting situation after the triggering transaction                            |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Type of     |Exercise |Expiration |Exercise/    |Number of     |% of voting     |
|financial   |price    |date xvii  |Conversion   |voting rights |rights xix, xx  |
|instrument  |         |           |period xviii |instrument    |                |
|            |         |           |             |refers to     |                |
|------------+---------+-----------+-------------+--------------+----------------|
|            |         |           |             |              |Nominal  |Delta |
|            |         |           |             |              |---------+------|
|            |         |           |             |              |         |      |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+




+-------------------------------------------------------+
| Total (A+B+C)                                         |
|                                                       |
|-------------------------------------------------------|
| Number of voting rights | Percentage of voting rights |
|-------------------------+-----------------------------|
| 22,741,311              | 5.12%                       |
+-------------------------------------------------------+




+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 9. Chain of controlled undertakings through which the voting      |
| rights and /or the financial instruments are effectively held, if |
| applicable:                                                       |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|                                                                   |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+





+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Proxy Voting:                                                     |
|                                                                   |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 10. Name of proxy holder:                    | FIL Limited        |
|                                              |                    |
|----------------------------------------------+--------------------|
| 11. Number of voting rights proxy holder     | 2,974,411          |
| will acquire:                                |                    |
|                                              |                    |
|----------------------------------------------+--------------------|
| 12. Date on which proxy holder will acquire  | 25th November 2009 |
| voting rights:                               |                    |
|                                              |                    |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+







Current Holdings by Instrument Type:



+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| Shares Held | Nominee                    | Management Company |
|-------------+----------------------------+--------------------|
|             |                            |                    |
|-------------+----------------------------+--------------------|
|  22,702,811 | Brown Bros Harrimn Ltd Lux | FIL                |
|-------------+----------------------------+--------------------|
|      38,500 | JP Morgan, Bournmouth      | FIL                |
|-------------+----------------------------+--------------------|
|             |                            |                    |
|-------------+----------------------------+--------------------|
|  22,741,311 |                            |                    |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+



FIL Limited (FIL) is the parent company for various direct and
indirect subsidiaries, including FIL Fund Management Limite (FFML),
FIL Investment Services Ltd (FISL), FIL Gestion (FIGEST), FIL Asset
Management (Korea) Limited (FIAKL), FIL Investments Management (Hong
Kong) Limited (FIMHK), FIL Pension Management (FPM), Fidelity
Investments International (FII), investment managers for various
non-US investment companies and institutional clients.

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