Smartphone growth boosts IQE

29th Mar 2011 09:36

Strong growth in the smartphone market helped drive revenues higher at IQE, which supplies wafers for semiconductors used in the gadgets.Revenues in the year to 31 December grew 38% from the previous year to £72.7m, while pre-tax profits tripled to £6.3m."Our core business of high speed connectivity, including wireless-related products for all forms of mobile device communications has continued to show very strong growth," said chief executive Drew Nelson.IQE pointed out that global shipments of smartphones grew by more than 70% during the year and that, with smartphones still only representing 22% of all handsets sold, strong growth is set to continue for many years to come.IQE expects the launch of tablet devices and the rollout of 4G to continue driving sales.However, the company is also growing in other areas including the energy efficiency and security markets."New and emerging products for consumer, energy efficiency, industrial and defence applications are generating increased demand across all our key markets," said Nelson.Turning to IQE's ability to benefit from the need for better energy efficiency, he pointed out that while 10% of energy currently comes from renewables, the same percentage of electricity is lost due to inefficient use.RG