SAN JOSE – Bookings at North America-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers fell 10.3% year-over-year in June, a leading trade group said today.

OEMs posted $1.55 billion in orders in June on a three-month average basis, according to SEMI, down 4.4% from the revised May level. The three-month average worldwide billings fell 1.1% sequentially to $1.65 billion. Billings rose 12.5% from last year, however.

The book-to-bill ratio fell three basis points sequentially to 0.94. A book-to-bill of 0.94 means that $94 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month. It was the ninth straight month the ratio was below the 1.0 mark that suggests future growth.

“Billings are up year-over-year and three-month average billings are relatively consistent,” said Stanley T. Myers, president and CEO of SEMI. “We will monitor bookings strength for indications of year-end or seasonal softening, but no definitive data trend is apparent yet.”

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.

Semi gear orders are considered a sign of future demand for printed circuit boards.

Source: SEMI July 2011