Falling Chip Equip Index Suggests Bottom May Be Close
(05/19/98; 12:06 p.m. ET)
By Staff, Semiconductor Business News
Orders for chip production systems continued to plunge last month,
driving down the book-to-bill index for North American suppliers of
semiconductor equipment to its lowest point in 18 months, according to
new market data.
The book-to-bill index fell to 0.79 for April, compared with a revised
0.82 figure for March, based on data released by the Semiconductor
Equipment and Materials International trade group, in Mountain View,
Calif., SEMI's index shows for every $100 worth of products being
shipped to chip makers, equipment suppliers were only getting $79 of new
orders.
"This month's results suggest the bottom may be close," said Dick
Greene, principal analyst with SEMI. "The decelerating month-over-month
decline in orders and the modest increase in shipments point to a
leveling off of the current cycle."
SEMI's three-month average shipments increased in April to $1.353
billion compared with $1,343 billion in March. That represented a 1
percent increase over March's billings figure, and it was 23 percent
higher than a year ago, according to SEMI.
Meanwhile, three-month average for bookings decreased 2.5 percent to
$1.074 billion in April compared with $1.102 billion in March. April's
shipment total was 13 percent lower than it was in the same month last
year. |
