SAN JOSE — Despite a steep year-over-year drop in orders, North America-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers reported their highest book-to-bill ratio in more than two years as bookings rose faster than shipments in March.

The sector received $1.14 billion in orders worldwide in March on a 90-day moving basis up 5.9% sequentially but down 21.3% from March 2012, the SEMI trade group said.

The three-month average worldwide billings in March was $1 billion, up 2.8% from the revised February figure and down 22.2% from a year ago.

The book-to-bill was 1.14, meaning that $114 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.

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.

Source: SEMI, April 2013