August 6, 2003 – Based on the latest semiconductor equipment sales figures from the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan (SEAJ), that country is poised to lead a strong rebound in the equipment market.

Global sales of Japanese-made equipment were 80.81 billion yen ($676.9 million) in June, a big jump from May sales of 47.84 billion yen ($400.7 million) and a 33.7% increase from June 2002. Domestic sales spiked to 51.80 billion yen ($433.9 million) — the highest since March 2003, and second highest in the past 12 months — representing a 75.6% jump from May and a 52.1% increase over June 2002, according to SEAJ.

Japan’s global equipment orders in June totaled 91.48 billion yen ($766.3 million), up 6.3% from the same month in 2002, but down from 98.84 billion yen ($827.9 million) in May 2003, the SEAJ reports. Domestic orders in June were 66.24 billion yen ($554.8 million), a slight dip from May 2003 but a 92.7% increase from June 2003.

The worldwide book-to-bill rocketed to 1.57 in June, compared with 1.04 in May, and doubling April’s mark of 0.78. A book-to-bill of 1.57 means that $157 in new orders was received for every $100 of product billed for the month. Domestically, the book-to-bill was 1.71, up from 1.43 in May and 1.29 one year ago.