Re Contract

IQE PLC
28 March 2007

28 March 2007



IQE plc



IQE secures $US2.4m development contracts



IQE plc (AIM: IQE), the leading global supplier of advanced wafer products and
wafer services to the semiconductor industry, has secured two 12-month
development contracts worth in aggregate over $2.4m during 2007. The Group also
today published its preliminary results for the year to 31 December 2006 which
showed revenues up 55.2% to £32.4m (2005: £20.9m) and a gross profit of  £2.5m
(2005: loss £0.8m) - see separate statement.

The contracts have been awarded to develop materials for use in next generation
of ultra high speed integrated circuits (IC).



One contract is focused on the development of Strontium Titanium Oxide on
Silicon epi-wafers (STO/Si) using IQE's state of the art molecular beam epitaxy
(MBE) systems. IQE will further develop STO/Si deposition by MBE in order to
provide world-class compositional and surface quality control as a pre requisite
to future high volume production.



The other contract is to develop advanced material structures for increased
processing speed for future ICs.



These awards add to the current R&D contracts currently being serviced across
the Group, bringing the total awards to date for delivery in 2007 to almost $US5
million.


Dr Drew Nelson, IQE Chief Executive, commented:



'We plan to aggressively pursue the metal-oxide on Silicon market where we offer
unique and superior solutions for these advanced state of the art materials
systems.  Our entry into this market is important as it further diversifies the
Group's product portfolio and underscores our position as the global leader in
advanced semiconductor wafer production and R&D.'



Contacts:


IQE plc :

Drew Nelson, President & Chief Executive Officer                        [phone]
Phillip Rasmussen, Chief Finance Officer
Chris Meadows, Investor Relations Executive

Noble                                                                   + 44 (0) 20 7763 2200
John Llewellyn-Lloyd

College Hill                                                            [phone]
Adrian Duffield/Ben Way





NOTE TO EDITORS



IQE is the leading global supplier of advanced semiconductor wafers, with
products that cover the whole spectrum of wafer structures, supported by an
innovative outsourced foundry services portfolio that allows the Group to
provide a 'one stop shop' for the wafer needs of the world's leading
semiconductor manufacturers.



IQE uses advanced crystal growth technology (epitaxy) to manufacture and supply
bespoke semiconductor wafers ('epi-wafers') to the major chip manufacturing
companies, who then use these wafers to make the chips which form the key
components of virtually all high technology systems. IQE is unique in being able
to supply wafers using all of the leading crystal growth technology platforms.



IQE's products are found in many leading-edge consumer, communication, computing
and industrial applications, including a complete range of wafer products for
the wireless industry, such as mobile handsets and wireless infrastructure,
WiFi, WiMAX, base stations, GPS, and satellite communications; optical
communications, optical storage (CD, DVD), laser optical mouse, laser printers &
photocopiers, thermal imagers, leading-edge medical products, barcode, high
efficiency LEDs and a variety of advanced silicon based systems.



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 also provides bespoke R&D services to deliver customised 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. The
Group is also able to leverage its global purchasing volumes to reduce the cost
of raw materials. In this way IQE's outsourced services, provide compelling
benefits in terms of flexibility and predictability of cost, thereby
significantly reducing operating risk.



IQE employs around 320 people and operates six manufacturing facilities located
in Cardiff (two) and Milton Keynes in the UK; in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and
Somerset, New Jersey in the USA; and Singapore. The Group also has nine sales
offices located in major economic centres worldwide.






                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange