May 19, 2006 – Demand for semiconductor manufacturing equipment from North American suppliers continued to ramp up in April, and the industry is clearly showing strong growth over the past year, according to new data from SEMI.

Worldwide bookings in April (a three-month average) were $1.60 billion, an increases of nearly 16% from March and more than 60% from April 2005. Billings in the month (also a three-month average) were $1.45 billion, with slower growth than orders (8% month-on-month, and 17% year-on-year). The book-to-bill ratio was 1.11, meaning that $111 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.

Comparatively speaking, April capped off one of the best quarters in recent memory for the North American semiconductor equipment industry. Order growth has been >24% for four months, with levels approaching those of June 2004, and have grown 43% in just the past five months. Equipment sales, meanwhile, also have returned to mid-2004 levels, showing double-digit year-on-year growth for the first time since early 2005, and rising 23% during the past five months. Additionally, the B:B ratio has remained above the parity mark (1.0) for three consecutive months, and has increased steadily since last November.

These trends “points to increasing confidence in the market and a healthy year over year billings growth in 2006,” stated Stanley Myers, president and CEO of SEMI.

Billings (US $M) Bookings (US $M) Book-to-bill

November 1179.7 1093.2 0.93
December 1223.6 1142.7 0.93
January 1259.4 1225.9 0.97
February 1283.3 1293.2 1.01
March (final) 1338.7 1385.3 1.03
April (prelim.) 1448.5 1602.4 1.11