January 19, 2007 – New demand for new semiconductor manufacturing equipment continued to slow in December, but sales surged during what was the final fiscal month for most North American companies, according to the latest data from SEMI.

North American-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.52 billion in orders in December (a three-month average basis), 6.6% higher than in November and 33.0% higher than December 2005. The three-month average for worldwide billings came in at $1.45 billion, a 2.4% sequential decline but 18.3% higher than a year ago.

The book-to-bill ratio rose back above parity for the first time since August to 1.05, meaning that $105 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month. The final tally of equipment orders and sales for November showed that both were about $8 million lower than expected, pushing the B:B slightly down from 0.97 to 0.96.

With preliminary data in from December, a full-year comparison of FY06 data shows 34.3% growth in billings from 2005 to $19.12 billion, and 57.9% growth in bookings to $19.57 billion, for a B:B of roughly 1.02.

North American equipment bookings, billings — December 2006

Month…….Billings…….%M-M………%Y-Y……….Bookings……..%M-M……..% Y-Y………B:B
………… (3-mo. avg.)……………………………………(3-mo. avg.)……………………………………..

Dec’05………1223.6…….3.7%……..-7.1%……….1142.7……..4.5%…….-7.5%……..0.93
Jan’06………1259.4…….2.9%………0.1%……….1225.9……..7.3%…….24.3%……..0.97
Feb’06………1283.3…….1.9%……..-3.6%……….1293.2……..5.5%…….26.3%……..1.01
Mar’06………1338.7…….4.3%………5.2%……….1385.3……..7.1%…….40.2%……..1.03
Apr’06………1448.5…….8.2%……..16.9%……….1602.4…….15.7%…….60.4%……..1.11
May’06………1452.6…….0.3%……..19.8%……….1619.0……..1.0%…….59.5%……..1.11
June’06……..1557.4…….7.2%……..35.2%……….1782.3…….10.1%…….71.7%……..1.14
July’06……..1637.9…….5.2%……..51.9%……….1734.6…….-2.7%…….72.2%……..1.06
Aug’06………1742.8…….6.4%……..65.1%……….1729.7…….-0.3%…….69.6%……..0.99
Sep’06………1672.8……-4.0%……..53.7%……….1639.2…….-5.2%…….66.6%……..0.98
Oct’06………1562.9……-6.6%……..36.4%……….1468.6……-10.4%…….34.3%……..0.94
Nov’06 (f)…..1486.1……-4.9%……..26.0%……….1426.5…….-2.8%…….30.5%……..0.96
Dec’06 (p)…..1450.1……-2.4%……..18.3%……….1520.0……..6.6%…….33.0%……..1.05
TOTAL 2006….19116.1…… — ………34.3%………19569.4…….. — …….57.9%……..1.02

WaferNEWS source: SEMI