Apple supplier IQE’s CEO departs, finance chief takes interim charge

BRITISH semiconductor wafer maker IQE on Tuesday (Oct 29) said its CEO, Americo Lemos, has left the company with immediate effect and finance chief Jutta Meier will take interim charge.

Meier joined IQE earlier this year from Intel Corp where she served as a senior finance director.

Phil Smith, the chair of IQE since 2019, will step down and Mark Cubitt, who was named the chair-elect earlier this month, will become executive chair, the company said.

“Their (Mark and Jutta) immediate priorities will include a focus on executing on the near-term pipeline as well as cash generation across the Group and on unlocking embedded value by pursuing the IPO of our Taiwan business,” Phil Smith, the outgoing chairman, said.

IQE, whose ‘epi-wafers’ are used in the iPhone’s facial recognition sensors, forecast annual profit at the lower end of market view in September as some of its markets were slower to recover from a supply glut.

In July, IQE said it planned to file for an IPO of its Taiwanese business on the local stock exchange, although it would retain control of the unit. REUTERS