SEMI: North American equipment book-to-bill rises slightly

The ratio of semiconductor manufacturing equipment bookings to billings rose last month, but only slightly.

By Ann Steffora Mutschler, Senior Editor -- Electronic News, 12/21/2007

Winding up a slowing year, and heading into what many believe will be an even slower 2008 particularly when in comes to semiconductor equipment investments, North American-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.15 billion in orders in November on a three-month average basis, with a book-to-bill ratio of 0.82 according to industry association SEMI’s Book-to-Bill Report published late today.

The three-month average of worldwide bookings in November was $1.15 billion or approximately 2 percent less than the finalOctober level of $1.18 billion and about 19 percent less than $1.43 billion in orders posted in November 2006. 

The three-month average of worldwide billings in November was $1.39 billion, which is approximately 6 percent less than the final October level of $1.48 billion and about 6 percent less than the November 2006 billings level of $1.49 billion.

Stanley T. Myers, president and CEO of SEMI said in a statement, “November orders are 19 percent below one year ago, and at levels last reported in late 2005. Semiconductor manufacturers have added a tremendous amount of 300 mm capacity over the past year. This, combined with the overall booking trends, indicates that investments will slow in the near-term, which is consistent with concerns about the economy as a whole.”

SEMI’s book-to-bill is a ratio of three-month moving averages of worldwide bookings and billings for North American-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers.

Worldwide bookings and billings for North American-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers (in millions of dollars)

Source: SEMI, December 2007

Independently from SEMI, the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan (SEAJ) releases its July Book-to-Bill Report on approximately the same date, which tracks billings and bookings worldwide of Japanese-headquartered semiconductor equipment manufacturers.