biz.yahoo.com
Monday November 22, 9:30 pm Eastern Time
Chip equipment book to bill rises in October
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Nov. 22 (Reuters) - New orders for
semiconductor manufacturing equipment from North American based
manufacturers rose in October, boosting the widely watched
book-to-bill ratio to 1.09, the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials
International trade group reported on Monday.
The book-to-bill ratio of 1.09, which was up from 1.07 in September,
means that $109 in orders were received for each $100 worth of
products shipped.
The three-month average of worldwide shipments in October 1999 was $1.47 billion -- up 4 percent
above the September level, and 72 percent higher than the October 1998 shipments level of $852 million.
The three-month average of bookings in October 1999 was $1.59 billion -- up 6 percent above September,
and 150 percent above the $638 million posted in October 1998.
''The October numbers show that equipment orders are back on track for full recovery,'' said Stanley
Myers, the trade group's president. ''The resurgence of the global semiconductor industry, coupled with
positive economic and industry forecasts for 2000, appear to be finally spurring growth in capital
spending.''
The SEMI book-to-bill is a ratio of three-month moving average bookings to three-month moving average
shipments for the North American semiconductor equipment industry. Shipments and bookings figures are
in millions of dollars.
Month Shipments Bookings Book-to-Bill
May 99 1,216.7 1,514.2 1.24
June 99 1,288.3 1,560.5 1.21
July 99 1,375.2 1,530.9 1.11
August (final) 1,440.7 1,565.1 1.09
September (revised) 1,406.5 1,502.2 1.07
October 99 (prelim) 1,465.0 1,592.0 1.09
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