Semiconductor Equipment Demand Jumps (Finally)
SAN JOSE— North America-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers reversed course in December, posting a 28.6% sequential increase in orders.
The book-to-bill ratio jumped 13 basis points to 0.92, attaining its highest level since a 0.93 mark in June. 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, which are compiled on a three-month moving average, reached their highest point since August.
For the month, the industry reported $924.1 million in orders worldwide in December, SEMI said, up 28.6% over the revised November 2012 levels. Still, sales were down 16.2% from December 2011.
The three-month average worldwide billings was $1.01 billion, up 10.6% from the revised November level and down 22.6% from a year ago.
|
Billings |
Bookings |
Book-to-Bill |
|
|
July 2012 |
1,442.8 |
1,234.6 |
0.86 |
|
August 2012 |
1,331.5 |
1,092.9 |
0.82 |
|
September 2012 |
1,164.4 |
912.8 |
0.78 |
|
October 2012 (final) |
985.5 |
742.8 |
0.75 |
|
November 2012 (revised) |
910.1 |
718.6 |
0.79 |
|
December 2012 (prelim) |
1,006.8 |
924.1 |
0.92 |
Source: SEMI, January 2013
