North American Book-to-Bill Reaches 1.10
Staff -- Semiconductor International, 4/1/1999
| North American Book-to-Bill | |||
| Month |
Shipments ($ million) |
Bookings ($ million) |
Book-to-Bill |
| August 98 | 1011.8 | 571.6 | 0.57 |
| September 98 | 845.7 | 481.3 | 0.57 |
| October 98 | 852.3 | 638.0 | 0.75 |
| November 98 (final) | 931.6 | 767.2 | 0.84 |
| December 98 (revised) | 895.2 | 869.2 | 0.97 |
| January 99 (preliminary) | 868.0 | 957.7 | 1.10 |
Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI,
Mountain View, Calif.) reported that the North American semiconductor
equipment industry posted a book-to-bill ratio of 1.10 for January 1999.
This marks the first time North American equipment bookings have exceeded
shipments since November 1997.
"This is the fourth month of sequentially greater order levels. Continuing improvement in semiconductor equipment booking figures convey further optimism for the equipment industry," said Stanley Myers, president of SEMI. "While we have not seen a rash of announcements for new semiconductor facilities to be built in 1999 and 2000, the January order level indicates that aggressive activity in both fab conversions and backend upgrades for the newest chip designs should continue to improve equipment industry business levels in 1999."
