SAN JOSE — North America-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers reported 90-day average bookings rose 2.6% year-over-year in January, according to a monthly survey of the major suppliers.

Manufacturers posted $1.31 billion in orders worldwide in January, down 4.9% from the final December 2014 numbers, the SEMI trade group announced today.

The book-to-bill ratio was 1.03, meaning that $103 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month. The three-month average of worldwide bookings in January 2015 was $1.31 billion.

The three-month average worldwide billings in January was $1.28 billion, down 8.6% sequentially and up 3.5% from January 2014.

"2014 was a strong growth year for the semiconductor equipment industry, and both bookings and billings at the start of this year are comparable to the early 2014 figures," a SEMI spokesman said. "Given the positive outlook for the semiconductor industry in 2015 and based on current capex announcements, we expect the equipment market to continue to grow this year.”