North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted a book-to-bill ratio of 0.85 in June, up from 0.79 in May, according to SEMI.

A book-to-bill of 0.85 means that $85 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month. 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.

"With a half year of data at hand, bookings for the North American equipment manufacturers are down 27 percent compared to the same period one year ago," said Daniel Tracy, an analyst with SEMI, in a statement. "The industry awaits more clarity in the overall economic condition before increasing capital spending.''

Overall, the semiconductor-equipment market is projected to hit $34.12 billion in 2008, down 20 percent over 2007, according to SEMI's new forecast, which was released at Semicon West this week.