IQE plc
Cardiff, UK
18 July 2022
Filing of lawsuit to protect IQE's Intellectual Property
- Litigation brought against Tower Semiconductor
- Significant evidence suggests misappropriation of IQE's trade secrets relating to its ground-breaking "porous silicon" technology
IQE plc (AIM: IQE, "IQE" or the "Group"), the leading supplier of compound semiconductor wafer products and advanced material solutions to the global semiconductor industry, announces that it has filed a lawsuit against Tower Semiconductor ("Tower").
IQE has significant evidence that Tower misappropriated IQE's trade secrets to unlawfully obtain patents on IQE's technology. These claims relate to IQE's proprietary porous silicon technology which would underpin devices used in 5G and advanced sensing applications.
IQE filed its complaint in the U.S. Federal Court in California (case number 8:22-cv-00867) under Federal and California state law in relation to the misappropriation of trade secrets, correction of inventorship, breach of contract, unfair competition, and intentional interference with prospective economic advantage.
Tom Dale, General Counsel & Company Secretary at IQE, commented:
"We brought about these claims as we have significant reason to believe that Tower has misappropriated IQE's proprietary trade secrets for its own benefit. Our technology, processes and intellectual property are vital in underpinning IQE's products and solutions and in maintaining our market-leading position in advanced semiconductor materials. We will vigorously protect them and will provide further updates as material developments occur."
Contacts:
IQE plc
+44 (0) 29 2083 9400
Americo Lemos
Tim Pullen
Amy Barlow
Peel Hunt LLP (Nomad and Joint Broker)
+44 (0) 20 7418 8900
Edward Knight
Paul Gillam
James Smith
Citigroup Global Markets Limited (Joint Broker)
+44 (0) 20 7986 4000
Christopher Wren
Peter Catterall
Headland Consultancy (Financial PR)
+ 44 (0) 20 38054822
Andy Rivett-Carnac: +44 (0) 7968 997 365
Antonia Pollock: +44 (0) 7789 954 356
ABOUT IQE
IQE is the leading global supplier of advanced compound semiconductor wafers and materials solutions that enable a diverse range of applications across:
· handset devices
· global telecoms infrastructure
· connected devices
· 3D Sensing
As a scaled global epitaxy wafer manufacturer, IQE is uniquely positioned in this market which has high barriers to entry. IQE supplies the whole market and is agnostic to the winners and losers at chip and OEM level. By leveraging the Group's intellectual property portfolio including know-how and patents, it produces epitaxy wafers of superior quality, yield and unit economics.
IQE is headquartered in Cardiff UK, with c. 685 employees across nine manufacturing locations in the UK, US, Taiwan and Singapore, and is listed on the AIM Stock Exchange in London.