Trading Update

IQE PLC
17 January 2008

17 January 2008



IQE plc



Year end trading update - 2007 revenues expected to be around US$100m



IQE plc (AIM: IQE, 'the Group'), the leading global supplier of advanced wafer
products and services to the semiconductor industry, is pleased to publish a
trading update for the year to 31 December 2007.



Group revenues for the year are expected to be approximately US$100m, up around
65% in dollar terms year on year. This represents the third consecutive year of
sequential revenue growth, averaging around 50% p.a.



Trading in December proved to be very strong following the successful
qualification of products and tools with various customers across the Group,
resulting in record revenues for the month.  These and additional qualifications
currently in progress also secure the foundations for significantly more
production capacity in 2008.



EBITDA continued to increase from the first half of 2007, as a result of the
good growth in revenue coupled with the Group's high operational gearing and
tight cost control, and is expected to be in line with market expectations,
despite the adverse effect of the sterling/dollar exchange rate.



Sales of the Group's wireless products have been particularly strong as a
consequence of the Group expanding its customer base, product portfolio and
geographical reach during 2007 and the acquisitions made during 2006 have
performed extremely well.  The majority of the Group's customers are focussed on
products for the advanced upgrade smart phone market, WiFi (802.11n), WiMAX, GPS
and other high speed wireless markets.  All of these have a high reliance on
Compound Semiconductor based chips and have continued to show strong growth.



The Group has also made substantial progress in developing additional future
high volume products, including advanced solar cells and solid state lighting,
both of which are destined to play a major role in the global drive to a more
environmentally friendly and sustainable energy model.  In addition, the Group
has established a leadership position in advanced materials combinations for
ultra high speed integrated electronics applications.



The Board expects IQE's markets to remain strong, particularly those linked to
high speed wireless applications.  The demand for such advanced technologies
continues to grow as evidenced by the myriad of new and emerging applications at
last weeks' Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.



IQE expects to publish its preliminary results for the year ended 31 December
2007 during the week commencing 17 March 2008.

                                     -----



For further information contact


IQE plc :

Drew Nelson, President & Chief Executive Officer                                         [phone]
Phillip Rasmussen, Chief Finance Officer
Chris Meadows, Investor Relations Executive

Noble                                                                                  + 44 (0) 20 7763 2200
John Llewellyn-Lloyd/Andy Yeo

Panmure Gordon                                                                          [phone]
Aubrey Powell/Ashton Clanfield

College Hill

Adrian Duffield/Ben Way                                                                  [phone]





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, optical storage (CD, DVD), laser optical mouse, laser printers &
photocopiers, thermal imagers, leading-edge medical products, barcode, high
efficiency LEDs and a variety of advanced silicon based systems.



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 six manufacturing facilities located in Cardiff (two) and Milton
Keynes in the UK; in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and Somerset, New Jersey in the
USA; and Singapore. The Group also has 11 sales offices located in major
economic centres worldwide.



                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange