April 23, 2002–San Jose, CA–For the first time in sixteen months, the book-to-bill ratio climbed above 1.0 to 1.04, this means $104 worth of new orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month of March.

North American manufacturers of semiconductor equipment logged bookings of $839 million in March, an increase of 14 percent over February’s revised figure of $737 million, according to Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI.)

Billings for March were $808 million, a decrease of one percent below February’s figure of $818 million. All figures are three-month moving averages.

"The three month average billing figure softened slightly from the prior month. However, the overall ratio of bookings to billings rose above unity for the first time in sixteen months, signaling prospects for an improving industry revenue picture in the months ahead," said Stanley Myers, president and CEO of SEMI. "While we look for further confirmation of a recovery in the semiconductor equipment market, the improving trends are encouraging."