Global Equipment, Chip Bookings Grew in December
Online Staff -- Electronic News, 1/20/2004
The worldwide semiconductor equipment book-to-bill ratio reached 1.16 in December, Silicon Valley-based market research company VLSI Research Inc. said today.
The ratio of equipment orders to shipments and revenue recognition continues to climb in a healthy direction; November's revised figure was 1.11, VLSI said. Bookings for chip process, test and assembly equipment for suppliers around the globe jumped to $3.18 billion, up from the $3 billion posted in November. Billings were $2.75 billion, up from November's $2.71 billion, VLSI said.
Of those billings, wafer-processing equipment accounted for $1.46 billion, while test and related equipment accounted for $754 million. Assembly accounted for $180 million, while the industry took in $358 million for service and spares.
Orders continued to grow despite a slight drop off in overall fab capacity utilization as the industry headed into the year end. Capacity utilization in December was 96.5 percent, according to VLSI, compared to 96.9 percent in November. The company predicts this month's fab capacity utilization will come in around 95 percent.
As for chips, the book-to-bill ratio was 1.26 in December, up from the prior month's 1.18, as both orders and shipments grew. The three-month worldwide bookings average hit $17.95 billion in December, while billings amounted to $14.23 billion. Billings represent the average of World Semiconductor Trade Statistics sales data for October and November and VLSI Research's own estimate for December.
VLSI's equipment book-to-bill figure, which represents worldwide bookings and billings for a single moth, should not be confused with the book-to-bill figures presented monthly by Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International, which is a three-month rolling average of orders and shipments North American based suppliers. SEMI plans to release its book-to-bill data for December later today after North American financial markets close. |
