UK’s IQE swings to first-half profit and sees more AI data centre upside
Read a summary of this article on FAST.
Get bite-sized news via a new
cards interface. Give it a try.
Click here to return to FAST
Tap here to return to FAST
FAST
Sept 7 : British chip components maker IQE swung to a first-half core profit and maintained its annual outlook on Monday, as rising demand linked to AI and data centres continued to support growth.
After a slowdown in the electronics market and disruption linked to U.S. tariffs, the Wales-based company has benefited from increased spending on AI infrastructure. That prompted IQE to raise its annual revenue guidance in July.
IQE supplies epitaxy for wafers that are later used to make lasers deployed in data centres, placing it near the start of the AI data-centre supply chain.
The company said positive momentum had carried into the second half after first-half performance exceeded its expectations.
Guess Word
Crack the word, one row at a time
Buzzword
Create words using the given letters
Mini Sudoku
Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser
Mini Crossword
Small grid, big challenge
Word Search
Spot as many words as you can
Its shares, listed on London’s Alternative Investment Market, were last up 0.6 per cent. IQE said it intended to seek admission of its shares on London’s main market, targeting completion in the first half of 2027.
Rising demand for indium phosphide, a key material used in photonics for next-generation AI data centres, will lead IQE to add manufacturing capacity across its sites in the second half, CEO Jutta Meier told Reuters.
Meier said IQE was seeing some bottlenecks in indium phosphide substrate supply, but these were not expected to prevent the company from meeting its second-half targets.
“It is a bottleneck that we are navigating with various negotiations with suppliers across the industry,” Meier added.
Under Meier, IQE had shifted from spot orders to long-term agreements with customers including chipmakers MACOM and Tower Semiconductor, and telecoms equipment maker Lumentum.
“This represents a fundamental change to how the revenue base was built historically, and we expect further LTAs (long-term agreements) to be secured with marquee names over the coming months,” Peel Hunt analyst Damindu Jayaweera said.
IQE reported adjusted core profit of £6 million ($8.1 million) for the six months ended June 30, compared with a loss of £0.4 million a year earlier.
($1 = £0.7400)
Source: Reuters
Sign up for our newsletters
Get the CNA app
Stay updated with notifications for breaking news and our best stories
Get WhatsApp alerts
Join our channel for the top reads for the day on your preferred chat app
Get bite-sized news via a new
cards interface. Give it a try.
Click here to return to FAST
Tap here to return to FAST
FAST
