Semi industry uncertainty reflected in North American equipment sales drop

By Ann Steffora Mutschler, Senior Editor -- 4/18/2008

Manufacturers of semiconductor equipment in North America reported that orders for March dropped approximately 4% from February to $1.16 billion on a three-month average basis, with a book-to-bill ratio of 0.89, according to the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) industry group.

SEMI reminded that a book-to-bill ratio of 0.89 means that $89 worth of orders was received for every $100 of product billed for the month.

The three-month average of March worldwide bookings is approximately 18% less than the $1.42 billion in orders posted in March 2007, SEMI said.

In terms of worldwide billing, the three-month average in March was $1.29 billion, down about 1% from the final February level of $1.31 billion, and about 10% lower year-over-year from billings of $1.44 billion in March 2007.

“Orders reported by North American equipment manufacturers have remained at relatively constant levels over the past six months. This trend is a reflection of the uncertainty in the semiconductor industry, and with current economic conditions,” Dan Tracy, senior director of industry research and statistics at SEMI, said in a statement.

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.

SEMI billings and bookings figures (in millions of dollars)

Month	Billings (3-month average)	Bookings (3-month average)	Book-to-bill ratio
October 2007	1,477.5	1,176.9	0.80
November 2007	1,383.2	1,130.7	0.82
December 2007	1,361.7	1,156.3	0.85
January 2008	1,279.3	1,141.0	0.89
February 2008 (final)	1,310.8	1,205.4	0.92
March 2008 (preliminary)	1,293.7	1,157.4	0.89

Source: SEMI April 2008

These results also reiterate what market researchers are expecting for the year. Wednesday, Gartner Inc said that due to a weakening US economy and collapsing DRAM market, the company now expects spending for worldwide semiconductor capital equipment to fall 19.8% from last year to $47.5 billion. Gartner previously forecasted a 10% drop for semiconductor manufacturing equipment spending this year.

Also, Gartner’s revised forecast substantiates iSuppli’s lowered semiconductor sales growth forecast for the year to 4%. 

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