Nov. 22, 2006 — SEMI reported that worldwide semiconductor manufacturing equipment billings reached $10.97 billion in the third quarter of 2006. The billings figure is 14 percent higher than the second quarter of 2006 and 38 percent above the same quarter a year ago. The data is gathered in cooperation with the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan (SEAJ) from more than 150 global equipment companies that provide data on a monthly basis.

SEMI also reported worldwide semiconductor equipment bookings of US$11.62 billion in the third quarter of 2006. The figure is 51 percent above the same quarter a year ago, 5 percent below the bookings figure for the second quarter of 2006.

“Worldwide billings for the third quarter of 2006 reached the highest levels since early 2001,” said Stanley T. Myers, president and CEO of SEMI, in a prepared statement. “The third quarter results serve as further indication that the industry will experience over 20 percent growth in 2006.”

The quarterly billings data by region in millions of U.S. dollars, year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter growth rates by region are as follows:

Region      3Q 2006  2Q 2006  3Q 2005  3Q06/2Q06  3Q06/3Q05
                                         (Q-o-Q)    (Y-o-Y)
Europe          860      954      698       -10%       23%
China           845      593      390        42%      117%
Japan         2,667    1,924    2,477        39%        8%
North America 1,770    1,836    1,402        -4%       26%
Korea         1,947    1,518      992        28%       96%
Taiwan        1,857    1,763    1,296         5%       43%
ROW           1,022    1,007      720         1%       42%
Total        10,967    9,594    7,976        14%       38%
Source: SEMI/SEAJ November 2006
Note: Figures may not add due to rounding.