Holding(s) in Company

11 November 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     | Yes  |
| economic effect to qualifying financial instruments        |      |
|------------------------------------------------------------+------|
|                                                            | No   |
| An event changing the breakdown of voting rights           |      |
|------------------------------------------------------------+------|
|                                                            | No   |
| Other (please specify):______________                      |      |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|                                       | Gartmore Investment       |
| 3. Full name of person(s) subject to  | Limited                   |
| notification obligation:              |                           |
|---------------------------------------+---------------------------|
|                                       | See attached schedule     |
| 4. Full name of shareholder(s) (if    |                           |
| different from 3):                    |                           |
|---------------------------------------+---------------------------|
|                                       | 5th November 2009         |
| 5. Date of transaction (and date on   |                           |
| which the threshold is crossed or     |                           |
| reached if different):                |                           |
|---------------------------------------+---------------------------|
|                                       | 6th November 2009         |
| 6. Date on which issuer notified:     |                           |
|---------------------------------------+---------------------------|
|                                       | 10%                       |
| 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    |
|             |            |                |             |--------------------+-----------------|
|             |            |45,578,921      |             |Direct  |Indirect   |Direct |Indirect |
|             |45,578,921  |                | 25,237,030  |        |           |       |         |
|GB0009619924 |            |                |             |        |25,237,030 |       |5.698%   |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+



+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|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 |
|CFD         |n/a      |n/a        |n/a          |NIL           |---------+------|
|            |         |           |             |              |0.000%   |      |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+




+-------------------------------------------------------+
| Total (A+B+C)                                         |
|                                                       |
|-------------------------------------------------------|
| Number of voting rights | Percentage of voting rights |
|-------------------------+-----------------------------|
| 25,237,030              | 5.698%                      |
+-------------------------------------------------------+




+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 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:                                                       |   |
|                                                               |   |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+





Current Holdings by Instrument Type:



+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Share        |Shares Held|   % of|UK Registered  |Beneficial Owner  |
|Description  |           | Issued|Owner          |                  |
|             |           |  Share|               |                  |
|             |           |Capital|               |                  |
|-------------+-----------+-------+---------------+------------------|
|IQE ORD      |           |       |               |                  |
|GBP0.01      |           |       |               |                  |
|(UK-EX)      |           |       |               |                  |
|             |           |       |               |                  |
|-------------+-----------+-------+---------------+------------------|
|Gartmore Fund|  9,871,094| 2.229%|HSBC GLOBAL    |GARTMORE FUND     |
|Managers     |           |       |CUSTODY NOMINEE|MANAGERS LTD A/C  |
|Limited      |           |       |UK LTD         |GARTMORE UK &     |
|             |           |       |               |IRISH SMALLER     |
|             |           |       |               |COMPANIES         |
|-------------+-----------+-------+---------------+------------------|
|Gartmore     | 11,535,767| 2.605%|NORTRUST       |STRATHCLYDE       |
|Investment   |           |       |NOMINEES       |PENSION FUND      |
|Limited      |           |       |LIMITED        |                  |
|             |  3,830,169| 0.865%|               |                  |
|             |           |       |GARTMORE GROWTH|GARTMORE GROWTH   |
|             |           |       |OPPORTUNITIES  |OPPORTUNITIES PLC |
|-------------+-----------+-------+---------------+------------------|
|             | 25,237,030| 5.698%|               |                  |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

---END OF MESSAGE---




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