British tech darlings are an endangered species. More often than not they get bought out once they achieve any size of note — à la ARM Holdings.
In recent years IQE, the Cardiff semiconductor firm, has started to look like Britain’s next big tech thing.
Founded in 1988 and floated in 2000, it meandered along at a middling pace. Until last year, that is, when speculation about its silicon wafers finding their way into the next-generation iPhone sent the shares soaring.
Companies are generally discouraged from confirming they supply Apple, but IQE did little to quell the rumour. Between January and November the shares almost quintupled and IQE’s valuation climbed to almost £1.4bn. All this for a company that made adjusted profits of £22.1m on