SAN JOSE -- The 90-day moving average orders of North American-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment was $1.12 billion, up 11% from July and good for a book-to-bill ratio of 1.05.

The 90-day average of worldwide billings was $1.07 billion, down 1% sequentially and 29% from a year ago,
according to the trade group SEMI.
The 90-day average for orders in August were down 26% vs. a year ago.

A book-to-bill of 1.05 means that $105 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.

"The book-to-bill ratio is above parity for the first time in a year driven in large part by orders for test and assembly equipment," said Stanley T. Myers, president and CEO of SEMI. "While the wafer processing equipment segment has yet to see the same growth levels as the final manufacturing segment, our industry views the overall trend as a positive indicator."

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.