IQE CEO warns of indium phosphide supply risks amid China export controls

IQE Plc CEO Jutta Meier is sounding the alarm on what she calls a growing supply crisis in indium phosphide, the compound semiconductor material that quietly powers everything from AI data centers to fiber-optic networks. The culprit: China’s export controls, which have choked off the dominant source of a material the industry can’t easily replace. The warning lands at a moment when demand for InP substrates is surging and supply is doing the opposite. Average prices for six-inch InP wafers have climbed roughly 250% since the controls took effect, hitting around $5,000 per wafer. What China controls, and why it matters Beijing added indium phosphide to its export control list around early February 2025. China accounts for approximately 70% of global indium production. InP substrates are essential for manufacturing the high-speed chips used in optical communications, the backbone of data transmission. As AI workloads have exploded, so has the need for faster data pipes between servers, which means more InP-based components in data centers worldwide. Meier’s comments underscore a reality that multiple semiconductor executives have been flagging. Lumentum’s CEO has warned that the sup...