Worldwide highlights

12/01/1998

Worldwide highlights

September SEMI book-to-bill down again, to 0.57. Orders for semiconductor equipment from North American producers took another sharp downturn in September, dropping 16% from August levels to $476.4 million, according to SEMI. The equipment book-to-bill came in at 0.57, another new record low. Revised August figures showed orders down to $568 million from the preliminary $631.5 million reported last month, and showed a book-to-bill ratio of 0.57 instead of 0.60. Thus, the July-August order drop was nearly 21%. September orders ran 69% below year-ago levels, while shipments of $839.4 million were down 42% year-to-year and 16% month-to-month.

Micromachining sales to rise. The total forecast sales for MEMS, micromachines, and microsystems are expected to reach $6.4 billion by 2002, an average annual growth rate of 21%, according to Business Communications Inc. The percentage of manufacturers including micromachined parts in their equipment is slowly and steadily growing. The manufacture of micromachine devices has been growing at a rate of 20-30%/year since 1990. Medical, telecommunications, and automotive applications will make the strongest showing on the market.