January 23, 2002 — San Jose, CA — North American manufacturers of semiconductor equipment logged bookings of $652 million for the month of December, with a book-to-bill ratio of 0.78, according to Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI.) A book-to-bill of 0.78, means $78 worth of new orders was received for every $100 of product billed for the month.

December bookings increased seven percent over November?s revised figure of $609.3 million, but were 73 percent below the $2.37 billion in orders logged during the same period a year ago. Billings for December were $834.9 million and also experienced a seven- percent increase over November?s revised figure $829.5 million. All figures are three-month moving averages.

“There are some indications that capacity utilization and unit volume output have improved from the 2001 lows, in particular for some segments of the assembly and test markets, ” notes Stanley Myers, president and CEO of SEMI. “Chip and equipment companies, however, remain cautious about the near-term outlook because of uncertainty with the overall economic recovery.”