IQE plc : Holding(s) in Company

16 February 2012

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

TR-1: NOTIFICATION OF MAJOR INTEREST IN SHARESi
1. Identity of the issuer or the underlying issuer of existing shares to which voting rights are attached:ii			IQE PLC
2 Reason for the notification (please tick the appropriate box or boxes):
An acquisition or disposal of voting rights
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):	The increase of the company's total outstanding shares			X
3. Full name of person(s) subject to the notification obligation:iii		T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc.
4. Full name of shareholder(s)  (if different from 3.):iv		Chase Nominees Ltd. National Australia Bank Bank of New York Mellon Bank, N.A. State Street Bank & Trust Co.
5. Date of the transaction and date on which the threshold is crossed or reached:v		13 February 2012
6. Date on which issuer notified:		14 February 2012
7. Threshold(s) that is/are crossed or reached: vi, vii		12%

8. Notified details:

A: Voting rights attached to sharesviii, ix

Class/type of shares if possible using the ISIN CODE

Situation previous to the triggering transaction

Resulting situation after the triggering transaction

Number of Shares

Number of Voting Rights

Number of shares

Number of voting rights

% of  voting rights x

Direct

Direct xi

Indirect xii

Direct

Indirect

GB0009619924

71,090,252

71,090,252

71,090,252

71,090,252

12.4%

B: Qualifying Financial Instruments

Resulting situation after the triggering transaction

Type of financial instrument

Expiration date xiii

Exercise/ Conversion Period xiv

Number of voting rights that may be acquired if the instrument is exercised/ converted.

% of voting rights

C: Financial Instruments with similar economic effect to Qualifying Financial Instruments xv, xvi

Resulting situation after the triggering transaction

Type of financial instrument

Exercise price

Expiration date xvii

Exercise/ Conversion period xviii

Number of voting rights instrument refers to

% of voting rights xix, xx

Nominal

Delta

Total (A+B+C)

Number of voting rights

Percentage of voting rights

71,090,252

12.4%

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) 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 52,000,000 shares.  Such shares are registered in the following name(s): Chase Nominees Ltd. - 52,558,185 National Australia Bank - 6,048,573 Bank of New York Mellon Bank, N.A. - 2,997,995 State Street Bank & Trust Co. - 9,485,499
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

---

This announcement is distributed by Thomson Reuters on behalf of Thomson Reuters clients.

The owner of this announcement warrants that:
(i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and other applicable laws; and
(ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the
information contained therein.

Source: IQE plc via Thomson Reuters ONE

HUG#1586664