SEMI: Q1 worldwide semi equipment bookings weak

Stanley T. Myers, president and CEO of SEMI noted that some regions, specifically North America, Korea, and China, posted strong quarter-over-quarter growth in spite of the conservative capital environment.

By Ann Steffora Mutschler, Senior Editor -- Electronic News, 6/17/2008

Although bookings for semiconductor manufacturing equipment weakened in Q1 on a worldwide basis, overall industry billings remained at levels higher than the end of last year, according to industry association Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI).

As such, worldwide billings for semiconductor manufacturing equipment reached $10.6 billion in Q1, up 7% from $9.8 billion in Q4 2007 and 2% less than 10.7 billion in Q1 2007, while worldwide bookings of semiconductor equipment totaled $8.1 billion in Q1, which is 23% less than Q1 2007 and 11% less than the bookings figure for Q2 2007.

Stanley T. Myers, president and CEO of SEMI noted that some regions, specifically North America, Korea, and China, posted strong quarter-over-quarter growth in spite of the conservative capital environment.

This data confirms the drop predicted by market research analysts at Gartner Inc, which predicted in April that spending for semiconductor manufacturing equipment would fall by 20% this year, but did increase its estimate for 2008 year-over-year worldwide semiconductor revenue growth despite concerns with the level of inventory in the supply chain.

In related news, last month SEMI said that as more semiconductor makers are forced to postpone fab projects due to global economic uncertainties, spending on worldwide fabs is expected to drop by approximately 17% this year, followed by a more than 12% rebound in growth in 2009.