IQE strikes supply deal with Tower Semiconductor and ends litigation
IQE PLC on Monday announced a supply agreement with New York-listed Tower Semiconductor Ltd, boosting its position in the artificial intelligence infrastructure space.
A separate agreement between IQE and Tower, meanwhile, drew a line under an intellectual property dispute.
IQE shares jumped 17% to 53.90 pence each in London on Monday morning for a £720.6 million market capitalisation.
The Cardiff-based supplier of advanced compound semiconductor wafer products and material solutions will supply indium phosphide epiwafers to serve AI-driven data centre infrastructure.
‘IQE’s InP epiwafers will be used in several of Tower’s advanced silicon photonics platforms for next-generation optical technologies, providing a high-quality supply base for Tower’s product roadmap,’ IQE said.
‘The agreement provides for a minimum purchase commitment by Tower in the first year, a reciprocal supply commitment from IQE, and minimum volume commitments thereafter. Under a separate agreement, Tower will also provide a broad worldwide and royalty-free licence to IQE for porous silicon patents which have been the subject of an IP dispute between the companies, settling all litigation in the matter.’
IQE had filed suit against Tower Semiconductor back in July 2022. It said at the time that it had ‘significant evidence that Tower misappropriated IQE’s trade secrets’.
Tower Semiconductor President Marco Racanelli on Monday said the firm is ‘pleased to partner with IQE as a key supplier for our next-generation photonic technologies’.
IQE Chief Executive Officer Jutta Meier said: ‘I am pleased to move forward together with Tower, already the leader in silicon photonics. This agreement reinforces IQE’s position within Tier 1 global hyperscale cloud and AI infrastructure markets. With decades of InP epitaxy expertise and established high-volume manufacturing capability, IQE is primed to support next-generation optical connectivity applications as they scale from innovation to commercial deployment.’
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