SAN JOSE – North American-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.75 billion in orders in July (three-month average basis) and a book-to-bill ratio of 1.06 according to SEMI.

A book-to-bill of 1.06 means that $106 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.

The three-month average of worldwide bookings in July was $1.75 billion. The bookings figure is about 2% lower than the revised June level of $1.78 billion and 73% higher than July 2005.

The three-month average of worldwide billings in July was $1.65 billion, up 6% over June and 53% above July 2005.

“Billings for North American equipment manufacturers are at their highest level since April of 2001, while bookings decreased slightly,” said Stanley T. Myers, president and CEO of SEMI. “Even with a slight bookings slowdown, the worldwide equipment market is still on track to grow about 20 percent in 2006.”

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.