SEMI: January book-to-bill shows strong start to 2007

By Colleen Taylor -- Electronic News, 2/16/2007

The year started out strong for chip equipment makers in North America, boosted by memory chipmakers' investments, according to the latest book-to-bill report published Thursday by Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI).

North American-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.71 billion in orders in January on a three-month average basis and a book-to-bill ratio of 1.06, the industry group reported. A book-to-bill of 1.06 means that $106 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.

The three-month average of worldwide bookings in January was $1.71 billion. The bookings figure is about 14 percent higher than the final December level of $1.5 billion and about 39 percent above the $1.23 billion in orders posted in January 2006, SEMI data showed.

The three-month average of worldwide billings in January was $1.62 billion, about 9 percent higher than the final December level of $1.48 billion and more than 28 percent higher than the January 2006 billings level of $1.26 billion.

The month's strength owes much to investments from the makers of memory chips. "Bookings and billings for semiconductor manufacturing equipment from North American-based companies increased as global memory chipmakers sustained investments in the period," Stanley T. Myers, president and CEO of SEMI, said in a statement.
Indeed, recent market research from Gartner Dataquest reports that memory spending could potentially reach a new high in 2007, accounting for 50 percent of total capital spending for the year.