SAN JOSE — North America-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers reported 90-day average bookings fell 3.6% year-over-year in August.

OEMs said they received $1.12 billion in orders worldwide.

The book-to-bill ratio was 0.84, according to SEMI, which collects the data. A book-to-bill of 0.84 means that $84 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.

The three-month average worldwide bookings in August was $1.12 billion, down 9.2% from the revised July figures. The three-month average worldwide billings was $1.34 billion, down 7.4% from the revised July numbers and down 8.4% from August 2011.

“The second half of the year continues to show reduced order and billing levels for the 2012 spending cycle,” said Dan Tracy, senior director of SEMI Industry Research and Statistics. “We expect 2012 equipment revenues to decline slightly with total spending for front-end and back-end semiconductor equipment globally remaining at the $40 billion or greater level for the third consecutive year.”

Many analysts use semiconductor fabrication equipment as an indicator for future printed circuit board growth.

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 US dollars.

Source: SEMI, September 2012

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