IQE Swings to £6M Profit as AI Infrastructure Demand Drives 43% Revenue Growth

UK's IQE posts half-year profit on AI infrastructure demand

Sept 7 (Reuters) - British chip components maker IQE Plc (IQE.L), opens new tab posted a half-yearly core profit on Monday, compared to a year-ago loss, helped by strong demand from AI infrastructure and data centre and defence customers. After a slowdown ⁠in the electronics market and disruption linked to U.S. tariffs, Wales-based IQE is benefiting from a boom in AI usage and the subsequent demand for equipment used in data centre construction. The company reported adjusted core profit of £6 million ($8.11 million) for the six months ⁠ended June 30, compared with a loss of £0.4 million in the prior-year period. IQE said positive momentum has continued into the second half after ⁠first-half performance exceeded management expectations. It reiterated its full-year forecast. IQE, which is currently listed on London's ⁠Alternative Investment Market, said it intends to seek admission of its shares on ⁠the Main Market, targeting completion in the first half of 2027. ($1 = £0.7400) Reporting by Neeshita Beura in Bengaluru; Editing by Jochelle Mendonca Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

IQE reports sharp H1 revenue growth on AI, data centre demand By Investing.com

Investing.com-- British semiconductor materials maker IQE PLC (LON:IQE) reported a sharp rise in first-half revenue on Monday, helped by strong demand from artificial intelligence and data centre markets. Revenue for the six months ended June rose 43% year-on-year to 64.6 million pounds from 45.3 million pounds a year earlier. Adjusted EBITDA increased to 6.0 million pounds from a loss of 0.4 million pounds. The improvement reflected higher revenue, better manufacturing utilisation and a more favourable product mix. Photonics segment revenue rose 45% to 38.5 million pounds, driven by continued growth in AI and data centre markets and funding releases for U.S. military and defence programmes. Wireless revenue increased 40% to 26.0 million pounds, supported by market share gains and higher sales across newly qualified customer platforms. IQE said first-half trading exceeded management expectations and momentum had remained strong in the second half. The company retained its forecast for 2026 revenue growth of more than 30%, with adjusted EBITDA expected in the low-teens millions of pounds. It also sees potential upside from optical communications for data centres and AI infrastructure, supported by recently signed supply agreements. IQE said it would increase Indium Phosphide capacity in the second half to meet demand from AI and data centre markets.

UK's IQE swings to first-half profit and sees more AI data centre upside

Sept 7 (Reuters) - British chip components maker IQE swung to a first-half core profit and maintained its annual outlook on Monday, as rising demand linked to AI and data centres continued to support growth. After a slowdown in the electronics market and disruption linked to U.S. tariffs, the Wales-based company has benefited from increased spending on AI infrastructure. That prompted IQE to raise its annual revenue guidance in July. IQE supplies epitaxy for wafers that are later used to make lasers deployed in data centres, placing it near the start of the AI data-centre supply chain. The company said positive momentum had carried into the second half after first-half performance exceeded its expectations. Its shares, listed on London's Alternative Investment Market, were last up 0.6%. IQE said it intended to seek admission of its shares on London's main market, targeting completion in the first half of 2027. Rising demand for indium phosphide, a key material used in photonics for next-generation AI data centres, will lead IQE to add manufacturing capacity across its sites in the second half, CEO Jutta Meier told Reuters. Meier said IQE was seeing some bottlenecks in indium phosphide substrate supply, but these were not expected to prevent the company from meeting its second-half targets. "It is a bottleneck that we are navigating with various negotiations with suppliers across the industry," Meier added. Under Meier, IQE had shifted from spot orders to long-term agreements with customers including chipmakers MACOM and Tower Semiconductor, and telecoms equipment maker Lumentum. "This represents a fundamental change to how the revenue base was built historically, and we expect further LTAs (long-term agreements) to be secured with marquee names over the coming months," Peel Hunt analyst Damindu Jayaweera said. IQE reported adjusted core profit of £6 million ($8.1 million) for the six months ended June 30, compared with a loss of £0.4 million a year earlier. ($1 = £0.7400) (Reporting by Neeshita Beura in Bengaluru. Editing by Jochelle Mendonca and Mark Potter)