SAN JOSE -- What a difference a year makes. The book-to-bill ratio for North American-based suppliers of semiconductor equipment hit 0.71 in October of 2001, a slight increase over September but a far cry from when the market peaked a year ago, according to a new figures from the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) trade organization here today.
The SEMI book-to-bill is a ratio of three-month moving average bookings to three-month moving average billings for the North American semiconductor equipment industry.
A book-to-bill of 0.71 means that $71 worth of new orders were received for every $100 of product shipped for the month of October, according to SEMI of San Jose.
The 0.71 ratio for October was a slight improvement over the previous month. As reported, new orders for chip production tools fell slightly less than shipments in September vs. August, according to North American-based suppliers. The result was a slight increase in the book-to-bill ratio of North American companies at 0.65 in September, according to SEMI (see Oct. 23 story ).
But it was far below the like period a year ago, which was considered the peak of the current chip-equipment cycle. In October of 2000, the book-to-bill ratio hit 1.17, according to SEMI (see Nov. 21 story ).
Meanwhile, the three-month average of worldwide bookings was $651.1 in October of 2001, a 5% increase over the $619.2 million figure in September, according to SEMI. But it was 78% below the $2.99 billion in orders posted in like period a year ago, according to SEMI.
The three-month average of worldwide billings was $916.2million in October. The billings figure is 5% below the revised level of $967.4 billion last month, but 64% below the billings of $2.57 billion in the like period a year ago, SEMI said.
"Excess capacity and weak end-market demand continue to beleaguer the semiconductor equipment industry," said Stanley Myers, president and CEO of SEMI. "While the decline in orders has abated, the average monthly shipment figure continues to weaken and there is no appreciable indication of a near-term trend reversal," Myers said.
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