Japan April chip equipment orders rise 2.0%

May 28, 2003 – Tokyo – Orders for Japanese semiconductor equipment rose 2.0% in April from March to $624 million (73.2 billion yen), the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan (SEAJ) said, according to Reuters.

But the figure was down 13.8% from the same month last year, its second straight month of year-on-year decline, confirming that demand remains sluggish in an industry still struggling to emerge from a record downturn in 2001.

The book-to-bill ratio, a key indicator of industry health that measures the amount of new orders against the amount of sales, rose to 0.78 from March’s 0.71, SEAJ said.

Orders placed by Japanese chipmakers, including imported equipment, fell 8.5% in April from the previous month. Year-on-year they were up 35.7% and the book-to-bill ratio rose to 1.15 from 0.98.

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