SAN FRANCISO—The book-to-bill ratio for North American semiconductor equipment manufacturers slipped to 0.76 in September, the lowest ratio since November 2001, according to the fab tool trade group SEMI.
The three-month average of worldwide bookings in September was $754 million, SEMI said, down 13 percent from August and down 39 percent from September 2007. The bookings level for chip equipment was the lowest since 2003, according to SEMI.
A book-to-bill of 0.76 means that $76 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.
Dan Tracy, an analyst at SEMI, said the chip equipment market is being hurt by the overall economic picture and that conditions would improve for the industry as a whole when consumer spending rises.
"The continued decline in capex spending is accompanied by a major global economic downturn that may have a significant impact on overall consumer electronics spending," said Stanley Myers, president and CEO of SEMI, in a statement. "Clearly, concern over these larger economic issues is restraining any immediate capacity investment plans."
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