IQE, a leading supplier of advanced wafer products and material solutions to the semiconductor industry, has announced its full year results for 2020.
The Cardiff-based firm posted record revenue performance of £178m, up from £140m in 2019. This represented a 27% year-on-year revenue with growth driven by the start of the 5G mega-cycle.
The company did post an operating loss of £5.5m, which was £18.8m in 2019. IQE said this was a result of exceptional impairment charges and legal costs reported at the half year, offset by the proceeds from the settlement of a legal dispute resolved in the firm’s favour.
Dr Drew Nelson, chief executive officer of IQE, said: "2020 was a year unlike any other and I’d like to extend my thanks to all of our staff who have shown their commitment and resilience in rising to the challenges we faced. Despite the global uncertainty that we encountered, the strength and diversification of our business enabled us to deliver record revenues of £178m, representing a 27% year-on-year increase.
"At the same time, we have made positive progress against our strategy and recorded strong growth across our Wireless and Photonics divisions, despite the external pressures.
"This progress, combined with the return to a cash positive position and the range of unique materials solutions for high performance devices in our development pipeline, ensures we are well placed to maintain our leadership position as the 5G mega-cycle gathers pace in the coming years”.
IQE’s says trading for its broad portfolio of products has continued positively in 2021. It said revenues for Wireless GaAs epiwafers are strong as a result of continued 5G handset market penetration and increased GaAs content. In addition, demand for 3D sensing, advanced sensing applications and communications products continues to remain positive.
IQE says it is well positioned for further 5G related GaN on SiC growth over the multi-year replacement cycle. In the first half of the financial year for 2021, revenues of GaN on SiC are expected to be lower than in H1 FY20 amid lower market estimates for mMIMO deployment in Asia. Beyond the near term, the opportunities for this and other GaN on Si technologies are very strong as global roll outs of 5G gather pace.
