Chip tool demand up, billings down: March book-to-bill pushes toward parity

April 23, 2011 — North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.70 billion in orders in March 2011 (three-month average basis) and a book-to-bill ratio of 0.95, according to the March Book-to-Bill Report published by SEMI.

The three-month average of worldwide bookings in March 2011 was $1.62 billion. The bookings figure is 1.5% more than the final February 2011 level of $1.60 billion, and is 21.6% above the $1.33 billion in orders posted in March 2010.

The three-month average of worldwide billings in March 2011 was $1.70 billion. The billings figure is 7.6% less than the final February 2011 level of $1.84 billion, and is 54.4% more than the March 2010 billings level of $1.10 billion.

"Orders are over 20% higher than one year ago and we see industry investments remaining steady," said Stanley T. Myers, president and CEO of SEMI. 

  Billings (3-mo. avg)  Bookings (3-mo. avg) Book-to-Bill
October 2010 1,623.3 1,593.7  0.98
November 2010  1,567.3 1,512.6 0.97
December 2010   1,760.1  1,580.2 0.90
January 2011  1,786.9  1,513.9 0.85
February 2011 (final)  1,839.3  1,595.5 0.87
March 2011 (prelim)  1,699.7  1,620.2 0.95
Billings and bookings figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Source: SEMI April 2011.

The SEMI book-to-bill is a ratio of three-month moving averages of worldwide bookings and billings for North American-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers. A book-to-bill of 0.95 means that $95 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.   

The data contained in this release were compiled by David Powell, Inc., an independent financial services firm, without audit, from data submitted directly by the participants. SEMI and David Powell, Inc. assume no responsibility for the accuracy of the underlying data.

The data are contained in a monthly Book-to-Bill Report published by SEMI. The report tracks billings and bookings worldwide of North American-headquartered manufacturers of equipment used to manufacture semiconductor devices, not billings and bookings of the chips themselves. The Book-to-Bill report is one of three reports included with the Equipment Market Data Subscription (EMDS).

SEMI is the global industry association serving the manufacturing supply chains for the microelectronic, display and photovoltaic industries. For more information, visit www.semi.org. Read SEMI’s blog.

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