January 23, 2012 — North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.16 billion in orders in December 2011, $1.32 billion in billings, and a book-to-bill ratio of 0.88, according to SEMI’s December Book-to-Bill Report. The book-to-bill ratio has been climbing since September 2011. In December 2011, bookings climbed back above the $1 billion mark.
The three-month average of worldwide bookings in December 2011 was $1.16 billion. The bookings figure is 18.5% above November 2011 and 26.7% below the $1.58 billion in orders posted in December 2010.
The three-month average of worldwide billings in December 2011 was $1.32 billion. The billings figure is 11.8% more than the final November 2011 level and is 25.2% less than the December 2010 billings level of $1.76 billion.
Bookings for semiconductor equipment are increasing, said Dan Tracy, senior director of Industry Research and Statistics at SEMI, adding, "Recent capital spending announcements by leading device manufacturers indicate the potential for continued improvement in 2012." Samsung and Intel both announced ambitious 2012 capex plans this month.
| 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. Billings and bookings figures are in millions of US dollars. Source: SEMI January 2012. | |||
| Billings (3-mo. avg) | Bookings (3-mo. avg) | Book-to-Bill | |
| July 2011 | 1,521.2 | 1,298.2 | 0.85 |
| Aug 2011 | 1,457.7 | 1,162.4 | 0.80 |
| Sept 2011 | 1,313.5 | 926.5 | 0.71 |
| Oct 2011 | 1,258.3 | 926.8 | 0.74 |
| Nov 2011 (final) | 1,176.7 | 977.2 | 0.83 |
| Dec 2011 (prelim) | 1,315.9 | 1,157.8 | 0.88 |
A book-to-bill of 0.88 means that $88 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 a global industry association serving the nano- and micro-electronic manufacturing supply chains. For more information, visit www.semi.org.