Director/PDMR Shareholding

IQE PLC
19 March 2008



                        IQE plc ('IQE' or the 'Company')



                              DIRECTORS' DEALINGS



IQE was notified on 17 March 2008 that the Non-Executive Chairman of the
Company, Dr Godfrey Ainsworth, purchased 504,500 ordinary shares of 1p each in
IQE at an average price of 16.71 per share on that date.



Following this purchase, his sole beneficial interest in ordinary shares in the
Company increased to 1,786,299 shares. In addition, he has previously reported a
beneficial interest in a further 2,502,621 shares held in the name of Gambit
Corporate Finance ('Gambit'), a company in which he is a partner.



Dr Ainsworth's total shareholding, including shares held through Gambit, is
4,288,920 shares representing 1.0% of the current issued share capital, being
431,043,197 ordinary shares of 1p each.





Contacts:



IQE plc                                              [phone]
Drew Nelson
Phil Rasmussen
Chris Meadows

College Hill                                         [phone]
Adrian Duffield/Ben Way

Noble & Company Limited                              [phone]
John Llewellyn-Lloyd/ Sam Reynolds

Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited                          [phone]
Aubrey Powell/ Ashton Clanfield





NOTE TO EDITORS



IQE plc is the leading global supplier of advanced semiconductor wafers with
products that cover a diverse range of applications. It is able to provide a
'one stop shop' for the wafer needs of the world's leading compound
semiconductor manufacturers, who in turn use these wafers to make the chips
which form the key components of virtually every high technology system. IQE has
particular focus on the growing global wireless sector for applications
including; mobile handsets, wireless infrastructure, Wi-Fi, WiMAX, base
stations, GPS and satellite communications; as well as for the optical
communication sector including; optical storage (CD, DVD), laser optical mice,
laser printers & photocopiers, thermal imagers, leading-edge medical products,
bar-coding, high efficiency LEDs and advanced 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 is unique in being able to supply
wafers using all of the leading crystal growth technology platforms including
Metal Organic Vapour Phase Epitaxy (MOVPE) and Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) and
the Group is able to leverage its global purchasing volumes to reduce the cost
of raw materials.



IQE also provides bespoke R&D services to deliver customized 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. This
is backed by a strategy of duplicating each key product processes over multiple
sites to assure customers of security of supply as well as provide compelling
customer benefits in terms of flexibility and predictability of cost, thereby
significantly reducing operating risk.



IQE operates six manufacturing facilities; two in Cardiff and one in Milton
Keynes in the UK; two more in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and Somerset, New Jersey
in the USA; and its most recent acquisition in 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