News
SAN JOSE -- North
American-based manufacturers of
semiconductor equipment posted $1.09 billion in orders in November on a
90-day average basis and a book-to-bill ratio of 0.92 according
to SEMI.
A book-to-bill of 0.92 means that $92 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.
Bookings were about even with revised October levels of $1.09 billion and 18% below the $1.33 billion in orders posted last year.
The three-month average of worldwide billings in November was $1.18 billion, up 3% from October and down 12% from November 2004.
"Bookings for North American-based semiconductor equipment providers continue to show stability, with signs of some improvement over the previous quarter," said Stanley T. Myers, president and CEO of SEMI. "The well-managed spending cycle throughout 2005 has been encouraging and the equipment market is positioned for growth 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.
EDAC chairman Wally Rhines called the strength "broad-based, with all regions up, as well as nearly all product segments."
EDA license and maintenance sales grew 6% in the third quarter to $851 million.
EDA's largest tool category, computer-aided engineering, generated revenue of $469 million in Q3, up 4% over in 2004. IC physical design and verification reported revenue of $296 million, a 9% rise. Semiconductor property revenue totaled $199 million, up 5%, and services revenue rose 9% to $72 million.
North America, EDA's largest region, purchased $532 million of EDA products and services, up 3%. Western Europe sales increased 7% to $218 million. Revenue in Japan grew 9% to $243 million. Elsewhere, sales rose for the 27th straight quarter, increasing 9% to $129 million.
Reporting companies employed 21,140 professionals in Q3, up 3% from a year ago.
JEITA forecast domestic production of $161.4 billion for 2005, down 3.5% from revised 2004 figures. The trade group had previously guided for a 2.8% gain.
