LONDON, June 23, 2026, 14:04 (BST)
IQE shares dropped around 15% to 48.2 pence on Tuesday afternoon, with almost 40 million shares traded. The AIM 100 index slipped about 2%. IQE’s market cap was about £636 million. Share prices lagged by at least 15 minutes.
There was no new trading statement from the Cardiff-based semiconductor materials supplier. Shares fell while tech and other risk-heavy stocks pulled back, as investors lifted their outlook for U.S. and UK rates.
FTSE 100 drops 0.7%, FTSE 250 down 1.8% in morning trade, both hitting their lowest marks in over a week. Worries over UK growth deepened after weak services data.
European tech stocks dropped hard. The sector slid 3.4%, led by STMicroelectronics off 7.5%, Infineon down 5.7%, and Aixtron falling over 5%. UBS’s Kiran Ganesh said more debt-funded investment may make investors doubt “potential earnings sustainability”. Reuters
IQE didn’t post any new regulatory news on Tuesday. The most recent filing, dated June 19, was about director Bami Bastani exercising warrants for 683,921 shares at 13.5p a share. Admission is due June 24.
The issue is roughly 0.05% of IQE’s increased share capital, so it causes only slight dilution. But the scale and timing of the drop Tuesday suggest profit-taking and a shift in sentiment toward AI-related stocks.
Retail trading stayed busy. IQE led morning action for interactive investor customers, and about 90% of trades were buys. Some investors appeared to use the drop to add to holdings.
IQE shares are still up over eightfold for the year after raising £81 million and lifting its demand outlook. The company is guiding for revenue growth above 20% in 2026 and expects adjusted EBITDA in the high single-digit to low double-digit millions of pounds.
Peel Hunt said last month the fundraising backed IQE’s “place in the AI super-cycle.” Deutsche Numis pointed to strong demand coming from data centres, military, and satellite communications. The capital raise brought in a £45 million investment from MACOM, the U.S. chipmaker. Ii
IQE signed a multi-year deal on June 15 to supply Tower Semiconductor with indium-phosphide epiwafers for AI data centre optical links. An epiwafer is a wafer with engineered crystal layers used for making certain chips. The agreement brings minimum purchase commitments and also ends previous patent litigation between the two.
IQE’s rebound comes off a low level. In 2025 revenue dropped 18% to £97.3 million, with adjusted EBITDA down 60% at £3.2 million. Photonics sales climbed 15% on demand from defence and data centres. Wireless revenue fell 40% as handset orders stayed weak.
But there are still risks. If AI infrastructure spending slows, orders could get pushed back. Unused factories, soft smartphone sales and higher costs for indium phosphide and gallium could squeeze margins. Chief Executive Jutta Meier said IQE is talking with customers about “sharing the pain of that pricing”—including by doing bigger volumes. Reuters
IQE’s annual meeting is set for June 30 in London. Investors are looking for details on order conversion, factory utilization, and how the company is using its fundraising cash.
