Holding(s) in Company

18 January 2009

For immediate release



                                    IQE plc

                            ("IQE" or the "Company")




+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|TR-1: Notifications of Major Interests in Shares                              |
+---------------------------------------------+--------------------------------+
|1. Identity of the issuer or the underlying  |IQE PLC                         |
|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 may result in |No   |
|the acquisition of shares already issued to which voting rights are     |     |
|attached                                                                |     |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+-----+
|An acquisition or disposal of instruments will similar economic effect  |No   |
|to qualifying financial instruments                                     |     |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+-----+
|                                                                        |No   |
|                                                                        |     |
|An event changing the breakdown of voting rights                        |     |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+-----+
|                                                                        |No   |
|                                                                        |     |
|Other (please specify):______________                                   |     |
+---------------------------------+--------------------------------------+-----+
|                                 |Universities Superannuation Scheme Ltd      |
|                                 |                                            |
|3. Full name of person(s) subject|                                            |
|to notification obligation:      |                                            |
+---------------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
|                                 |                                            |
|                                 |                                            |
|4. Full name of shareholder(s)   |                                            |
|(if different from 3):           |                                            |
+---------------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
|                                 |14(th) January 2010                         |
|                                 |                                            |
|5. Date of transaction (and date |                                            |
|on which the threshold is crossed|                                            |
|or reached if different):        |                                            |
+---------------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
|                                 |15(th) January 2010                         |
|                                 |                                            |
|6. Date on which issuer notified:|                                            |
+---------------------------------+--------------------------------------------+
|                                 |4%                                          |
|                                 |                                            |
|7. Threshold(s) that is/are      |                                            |
|crossed or reached:              |                                            |
+---------------------------------+-----------+--------------------------+-----+
                                  |           |                          |








+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|8: Notified Details                                                                |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|A: Voting rights attached to shares                                                |
|                                                                                   |
|                                                                                   |
+------------+---------------------+------------------------------------------------+
|Class/type  |Situation previous to|Resulting situation after the triggering        |
|of shares   |the triggering       |transaction                                     |
|            |transaction          |                                                |
|If possible +----------+----------+-----------+--------------------+---------------+
|use ISIN    |Number of |Number of |Number of  |Number of voting    |Percentage of  |
|code        |shares    |voting    |shares     |rights              |voting rights  |
|            |          |rights    |           +-----------+--------+------+--------+
|            |          |          |           |Direct     |Indirect|Direct|Indirect|
|            |          |          |           |           |        |      |        |
|            |          |          |           |           |        |      |        |
|            |          |17,771,680|           |           |        |      |        |
|            |17,771,680|          | 17,271,680| 17,271,680|        |3.89% |        |
|            |          |          |           |           |        |      |        |
|            |          |          |           |           |        |      |        |
|            |          |          |           |           |        |      |        |
|GB0009619924|          |          |           |           |        |      |        |
+------------+----------+----------+-----------+-----------+--------+------+--------+
             |          |          |           |           |        |      |



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

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|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 (xix,  |
|instrument  |          |            |period(xviii) |rights     |xx)           |
|            |          |            |              |instrument |              |
|            |          |            |              |refers to  |              |
+------------+----------+------------+--------------+-----------+-------+------+
|            |          |            |              |           |Nominal|Delta |
|            |          |            |              |           +-------+------+
|            |          |            |              |           |       |      |
+------------+----------+------------+--------------+-----------+-------+------+





+-------------------------------------------------------+
| Total (A+B+C)                                         |
|                                                       |
|                                                       |
+-------------------------+-----------------------------+
| Number of voting rights | Percentage of voting rights |
+-------------------------+-----------------------------+
| 17,271,680              | 3.89%                       |
+-------------------------+-----------------------------+








+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|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:                                        |   |
|                                                                  |   |
|                                                                  |   |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+---+
| 11. Number of voting rights proxy holder will cease to hold:     |   |
|                                                                  |   |
|                                                                  |   |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+---+
| 12. Date on which proxy holder will cease to hold voting rights: |   |
|                                                                  |   |
|                                                                  |   |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+---+







[HUG#1374456]