Chip equipment orders accelerate, pushing SEMI's book-to-bill to 1.45
Bookings by North American-based suppliers reach fifth-straight record in March
Semiconductor Business News
(04/21/00, 08:56:14 AM EDT)
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--New orders for chip production systems climbed to a fifth-straight record in March, pushing the monthly book-to-bill ratio for North American-based tool suppliers to 1.45, said the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) trade group here. A book-to-bill ratio of 1.45 means $145 in orders were received for each $100 worth of product shipped by suppliers.
"Semiconductor equipment bookings continue to accelerate across all sectors," said Stanley T. Myers, president of SEMI. "Related worldwide equipment statistics information from the February 2000 SEMI-SEAJ report shows all world regions are participating in this development, with Taiwan, Europe and the ROW (rest of world) regions posting the most aggressive growth in orders."
SEMI reported late on Thursday evening that new tool orders grew 95% to $2.452 billion in March from $1.257 billion in the same month last year, based on the trade group's three-month moving average for worldwide bookings at North American suppliers. Compared to February, new tool orders were up sequentially 7% from a revised figure of $2.294 billion.
The value of tool shipments in March rose 79% to $1.685 billion from just $944 million in the month last year. The bookings were up 6% from $1.595 billion from February, based on SEMI's three-month average.
During SEMI's Semicon Europa 2000 trade show in Munich this month, the trade group presented two growth scenarios for semiconductor capital equipment markets. One showed revenues for production systems growing 20% to $30 billion in 2000 from $20 billion last year, while a "fast-ramp" forecast indicated that equipment shipments could jump 44% to $36 billion in 2000. The fast-ramp forecast indicates that current business cycle would peak two years earlier (in 2002) earlier than the "slow-ramp" scenario (see April 5 story).
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