24 July 2018

IQE’s Wireless business unit renews major contract with tier-1 customer

© Semiconductor Today Magazine / Juno PublishiPicture: Disco’s DAL7440 KABRA laser saw.

Epiwafer foundry and substrate maker IQE plc of Cardiff, Wales, UK has renegotiated its long-term supply contract with a premier tier-one customer for the supply of wafer products used in wireless applications, while extending the range of products covered and increasing its overall share of the customers’ epiwafer requirements. The contract is estimated to be worth about $60m through to September 2019.

IQE says that the supply contract guarantees it about 80% of the customer’s demand for epiwafers and underlines the strength of the long-term customer relationship that it has developed over many years, having consistently been recognized as one of the customer’s best performing suppliers.

IQE’s Wireless segment continues to leverage its global manufacturing facilities to fulfill the supply contract from its North American facilities in Massachusetts and North Carolina, as well as its main wireless manufacturing site in Taiwan.

The contract covers epiwafer products for radio frequency (RF) applications including power amplifiers (PAs), low-noise amplifiers (LNAs) and switches used in a wide range of connected devices such smartphones, tablets, PCs, routers and other Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Demand for compound semiconductor-enabled devices is expected to underpin the roll-out of 5G over the coming years.

“IQE’s epiwafer products have been behind the global adoption of 4G/LTE and WiFi systems, and this major supply contract underlines the world-leading performance which IQE products provide for current- and next-generation wireless applications including the global roll-out of 5G,” says Daily Hill, head of IQE’s Wireless business unit.

Tags: IQE

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