Semiconductor equipment book-to-bill ratio continues to rise
Chip equipment manufacturers received 3% more bookings in April
By James Carbone -- Purchasing, 5/22/2009 11:32:00 AM
The book-to-bill ratio for North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment continued its climb in April, rising to 0.65 from a revised reading of 0.56 in March, according to trade association SEMI. (The March reading was revised down from its original 0.61). That means chip equipment manufacturers received $65 of new orders in April for every $100 of equipment they shipped.
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Semiconductor equipment makers posted $253 million in orders in April 2009 and shipped $389 million of equipment. The bookings figure is 3% greater than the final March 2009 level of $245.6 million, but 77% less than the $1.09 billion in orders posted in April 2008.
The billings figure is 11% less than the final March 2009 level of $438.3 million, and about 71% less than the April 2008 billings level of $1.34 billion.
"Capital investment by chipmakers remains limited and bookings for semiconductor manufacturing equipment from North America-based companies have been essentially flat at extraordinarily low levels for the past quarter," says Stanley Myers, president and CEO of SEMI.
The SEMI book-to-bill is a ratio of three-month moving averages of worldwide bookings and billings for North American-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers.
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