Feb. 22, 2008 – Demand for semiconductor manufacturing equipment is still below levels from early 2007, reflecting what chipmakers have been saying about a soft investment environment, but the numbers are showing slow improvement from their lowest points in 2007, according to data from SEMI.
Billings for equipment totaled $1.27B in January, down -6.8% from December and -12.4% from Jan. 2007. Bookings of $1.12B were down -2.8% month-on-month and -22.3% year-year. SEMI also revised its December figures slightly down, taking $15M off preliminary billings (and a full percent less in M-M and Y-Y growth), and about $80M out of bookings (and about 5% lower growth M-M and Y-Y). The B:B was lowered from 0.89 to 085.
Bad news streaks continued in January: seven months of M-M decline and six Y-Y in billings; for bookings it’s eight months and counting for declining Y-Y orders, seven of them at least -19%.
“Orders remain below levels reported in early 2007 and are consistent with the reduction in capital spending announced by many device manufacturers,” said Stanley Myers, president and CEO of SEMI, in a statement. “While new capacity will be added this year, the industry appears cautious about new investments in the near term.”
But there is some good news in SEMI’s numbers. The book-to-bill ratio (B:B) rose slightly again in January to 0.89, meaning that $89 worth of orders were received for every $100 worth of product billed for the month. It’s still well below the 1.0 parity mark (and anything above that which would indicate good prospects for future business), but the B:B has been steadily improving since a low of 0.79 in September, and is now back to levels from last summer.
North American equipment bookings, billings — Jan. 2007-Jan. 2008
Month…….Billings…….%M-M………%Y-Y……….Bookings……..%M-M……..% Y-Y………B:B
……………..(US $M)…………………………………………….(US $M)…………………………………..
………………(3-mo. avg.)………………………………….(3-mo.avg.)……………………………………..
Jan’07…………..1448.0……-2.3%……..15.0%……….1445.8…….-3.4%…….17.9%……..1.00
Feb’07………….1423.0……-1.3%……..11.3%……….1398.1……..-3.1%……..8.3%……..0.98
Mar’07………….1436.4……..0.9%……….7.3%………..1419.6……..1.5%…….2.5%……..0.99
Apr’07………….1594.7……..11.0%……..10.1%………1567.5……..10.4%…..-2.1%……..0.98
May’07………….1670.2……..4.7%………15.0%………1641.9………4.7%…….1.4%……..0.98
June’07…………1768.1……..5.9%……….13.5%……..1607.6……..-2.1%……-9.8%……..0.91
July’07………….1685.8…….-4.7%……..2.9%………..1406.3……..-12.5%…..-18.9%……..0.83
Aug’07…………1682.3……-0.2%……..-3.5%………..1371.2………-2.5%……-20.7%……..0.82
Sept’07………..1557.4…….-7.4%……..-6.9%………..1235.0……..-9.9%……-24.7%……..0.79
Oct’07 ………….1477.5……-5.1%……..-5.5%………..1176.9………-4.7%……-19.9%……..0.80
Nov’07……..1383.2…….-6.4%………-6.9%……….1130.7…….-3.9%……-20.7%……..0.82
Dec’07 (f)……1361.7……-1.6%………-8.1%……….1156.3………2.3%…….-22.8%……0.85
Jan08 (p)…………..1268.9……-6.8%…….-12.4%……….1123.8…….-2.8%……-22.3%……..0.89
Source: SEMI