IQE plc : Holding(s) in Company

15 November 2011

IQE plc
("IQE" or the "Company")




+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|TR-1: NOTIFICATION OF MAJOR INTEREST IN SHARES(i)                             |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

+----------------------------------------------+-------------------------------+
|1. Identity of the issuer or the underlying   |                               |
|issuer                                        |                        IQE PLC|
|of existing shares to which voting rights are |                               |
|attached:(ii)                                 |                               |
+----------------------------------------------+-------------------------------+
|2 Reason for the notification (please tick the appropriate box or boxes):     |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+---------+
|An acquisition or disposal of voting rights                         |    X    |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+---------+
|An acquisition or disposal of qualifying financial instruments which|         |
|may result in the acquisition of shares already issued to which     |         |
|voting rights are attached                                          |         |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+---------+
|An acquisition or disposal of instruments with similar economic     |         |
|effect to qualifying financial instruments                          |         |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+---------+
|An event changing the breakdown of voting rights                    |         |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+---------+
|Other (please specify):                                             |         |
+--------------------------------------+-----------------------------+---------+
|3. Full name of person(s) subject to  |                                       |
|the                                   |         T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc.|
|notification obligation:(iii)         |                                       |
+--------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+
|4. Full name of shareholder(s)        |                    Chase Nominees Ltd.|
| (if different from 3.):(iv)          |                                       |
+--------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+
|5. Date of the transaction and date on|                                       |
|which the threshold is crossed or     |                       11 November 2011|
|reached:(v)                           |                                       |
+--------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+
|6. Date on which issuer notified:     |                       14 November 2011|
+--------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+
|7. Threshold(s) that is/are crossed or|                                    11%|
|reached:(vi, vii)                     |                                       |
+--------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+



+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|8. Notified details:                                                              |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|A: Voting rights attached to shares (viii, ix)                                    |
+------------+----------------------+----------------------------------------------+
|Class/type  |Situation previous    |Resulting situation after the triggering      |
|of          |to the triggering     |transaction                                   |
|shares      |transaction           |                                              |
|            +----------+-----------+------------+-----------------+---------------+
|if possible |Number    |Number     |Number      |Number of voting |% of  voting   |
|using       |of        |of         |of shares   |rights           |rights (x)     |
|the ISIN    |  ares    |V ting     +------------+------+----------+------+--------+
|CODE        |          |Rights     |Direct      |Direct|Indirect  |Direct|Indirect|
|            |          |           |            |(xi)  |(xii)     |      |        |
+------------+----------+-----------+------------+------+----------+------+--------+
|GB0009619924|          |           |            |      |          |      |        |
|            |55,900,934|55,900,934 |            |      |58,600,934|      |11.16%  |
|            |          |           |            |      |          |      |        |
+------------+----------+-----------+------------+------+----------+------+--------+

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|B: Qualifying Financial Instruments                                               |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Resulting situation after the triggering transaction                              |
+--------------+----------+-----------------------+------------------+-------------+
|Type of       |Expiration|Exercise/              |Number of voting  |% of voting  |
|financial     |date(xiii)|Conversion Period(xiv) |rights that may be|rights       |
|instrument    |          |                       |acquired if the   |             |
|              |          |                       |instrument is     |             |
|              |          |                       |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 voting  |% of voting   |
|financial    |price    |date      |Conversion   |rights instrument |rights (xix,  |
|instrument   |         |(xvii)    |period(xviii)|refers to         |xx)           |
|             |         |          |             |                  |              |
+-------------+---------+----------+-------------+------------------+-------+------+
|             |         |          |             |                  |Nominal|Delta |
|             |         |          |             |                  +-------+------+
|             |         |          |             |                  |       |      |
+-------------+---------+----------+-------------+------------------+-------+------+

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Total (A+B+C)                                                                     |
+------------------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
|Number of voting rights             |Percentage of voting rights                  |
+------------------------------------+---------------------------------------------+
|58,600,934                          |11.16%                                       |
+------------------------------------+---------------------------------------------+



+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|9. Chain of controlled undertakings through which the voting rights and/or the|
|financial instruments are effectively held, if applicable:(xxi)               |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. (TRPA) is the parent undertaking of T. Rowe    |
|Price International, Inc. (TRPI).  TRPI is a direct, wholly-owned subsidiary  |
|of TRPA.  TRPI serves as investment adviser, with dispositive and voting      |
|authority, to various institutional clients that own shares of IQE Plc,       |
|including the T. Rowe Price International Discovery Fund, which owns          |
|35,000,000 shares.  Such shares are registered in the following name(s):      |
|                                                                              |
|Chase Nominees Ltd. - 50,291,710                                              |
|                                                                              |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Proxy Voting:                                                                 |
+----------------------------------------------+-------------------------------+
|10. Name of the 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:                                |                               |
+----------------------------------------------+-------------------------------+

+-----------------------------+------------------------------------------------+
|                             |                                                |
|13. Additional information:  |                                                |
+-----------------------------+------------------------------------------------+
|14. Contact name:            |Dorothy Jones, Assistant Vice President, T. Rowe|
|                             |                          Price Associates, Inc.|
+-----------------------------+------------------------------------------------+
|15. Contact telephone number:|                                001 410 345 6603|
+-----------------------------+------------------------------------------------+






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Source: IQE plc via Thomson Reuters ONE

[HUG#1563882]