SEMI: Semiconductor equipment billings slump by 23 percent
North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.09 billion in orders worldwide in January 2013 (on a three-month average basis) and a book-to-bill ratio of 1.14, according to the January Book-to-Bill Report published by SEMI.
A book-to-bill of 1.14 means that $114 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.
The three-month average of worldwide bookings in January 2013 was $1.09 billion. The bookings figure is 17.2 percent higher than the final December 2012 level of $927.4 million, and is 8.5 percent lower than the January 2012 order level of $1.19 billion.
The three-month average of worldwide billings in January 2013 was $952.1 million. The billings figure is 5.4 percent lower than the final December 2012 level of $1.01 billion, and is 23.2 percent less than the January 2012 billings level of $1.24 billion.
"In January 2013, the three-month average for bookings improved again for new semiconductor manufacturing equipment orders placed by worldwide customers to North American manufacturers, while billings declined slightly," says Denny McGuirk, president and CEO of SEMI.
"The ratio is above parity for the first time since May 2012, although both orders and billings currently remain tempered by the economy and relatively conservative spending plans at the start of the year."
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 U.S. dollars. A figure illustrating the data is shown at the top of this story.
The data is 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).