Semiconductor Equipment Monitor
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Staff -- Semiconductor International, 4/1/1998
Worldwide equipment sales remained strong through November (the last month for which comprehensive worldwide sales data are available), but there are unmistakable signs that the market has begun to slow during the first quarter of 1998. The value of global semiconductor equipment sales during November was an exceptional 57.2% higher than in November 1996. November-to-November sales growth was strongest for the Asia/Pacific region (+82.2%) and weakest in Europe (+20.4%). The share of total sales that were made up of test equipment during November was 17.8%, up sharply from October, while at the same time the share of wafer processing equipment to the total dropped by a significant four percentage points. However, signs of a slowdown were most apparent in SEMI's monthly express report, which covers shipments and orders from U.S.-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers. Shipments and bookings declined in December and January, and the book-to-bill ratio fell to a contractionary 0.94 during the first month of the new year. This is likely the leading edge of some less-positive news about worldwide sales that we will be reporting on in the first and second quarters of 1998.
Sales Trends by Regional Market
| $Billions | % Change from a year earlier | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Projected | Total | Projected | |||||
| 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | |
| World | 26.34 | 28.68 | 29.33 | 30.67 | 9.6 | 8.9 | 2.3 | 4.6 |
| Americas | 7.45 | 9.60 | 10.65 | 11.41 | 7.7 | 28.9 | 10.9 | 7.1 |
| Japan | 7.90 | 6.97 | 6.91 | 6.98 | 0.3 | -11.8 | -0.8 | 1.1 |
| Europe | 3.40 | 3.47 | 3.90 | 4.27 | 24.1 | 2.2 | 12.5 | 9.3 |
| Asia/Pacific | 7.59 | 8.64 | 7.87 | 8.01 | 17.1 | 13.9 | -8.9 | 1.7 |
| Historical Data: SEMI | Forecast: Cahners Economics | |||||||
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