(Reuters) - Cardiff-based IQE Plc said on Wednesday it had started initial production for a second major customer at its recently constructed Newport factory, with more contracts in the pipeline as it seeks to reassure investors about the impact of global trade restrictions on its business.
The production contract, serving the Android supply chains, is for Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers, an important part of multiple current and future 3D sensor systems, IQE said.
"The resulting volume demand will see the IQE owned world’s largest VCSEL facility at Newport yield significant financial returns over the medium term," Peel Hunt analysts said.
The company, which makes semiconductor wafers for chips used in Apple Inc, on Tuesday outlined a handful of new supply chains in Asia from which it expects significant orders.
The company had warned last month that 2019 revenue would miss forecasts, blaming a bigger-than-expected hit on the industry's supply chain from U.S. restrictions on China's Huawei.
(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; editing by Patrick Graham)
