Chipmaking equipment orders up in February
By Reuters
Special to CNET News.com
March 18, 1999, 9:40 p.m. PT
A key measure of the pace of new orders in the North American semiconductor equipment industry strengthened in February as the book-to-bill ratio rose, a trade association said.
The North American semiconductor equipment industry posted a book-to-bill ratio--orders vs. shipments--of 1.17 for February, compared with a revised 1.12 in January, the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International said. That means that $117 in orders were received for each $100 worth of products shipped by the makers of equipment used to manufacture computer chips.
The ratio, based on three-month moving averages, has climbed sharply from 0.57 in September, to 0.75 in October, 0.84 in November, and 0.96 in December.
The February rise in the ratio came as new orders held steady while shipments fell, the group said.
"We appear to be seeing some stabilization after four months of steady bookings growth, and this is in line with industry forecasts for 1999," said Stanley Myers, president of the trade group.
"There have been no big surprises in either the chip or electronics markets to cause a sudden change in direction for equipment makers," Myers said. "We remain optimistic that a continued strong economy will lead to a more robust upturn by year's end."
Three-month average shipments in February 1999 were $820 million, 5 percent below the January level and 40 percent below the February 1998 level of $1.4 billion. Three-month average bookings were flat at $962 million, and 22 percent below the February 1998 level of $1.2 billion.
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