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Technology Stocks : Intel Corporation (INTC) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Robert Salasidis who wrote (156547)	1/22/2002 8:32:02 PM
From: Ron	Respond to of 186894

SAN JOSE -- The semiconductor-equipment market appears to have hit the bottom and is showing some improvement amid the current and severe IC downturn. North American-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted a book-to-bill ratio of 0.78 for the month of December, according to new figures from the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) trade association here today. A book-to-bill of 0.78 means that $78 worth of new orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month. This figure was a slight improvement over the previous month. In November, North American-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted a book-to-bill ratio of 0.73, according to SEMI (see Dec. 20 story ). There are other positive signs as well. The three-month average of worldwide bookings was $652.4 million for December, according to SEMI. The bookings figure is about 7% above the revised $609.3 million figure from last month, but 73% below the $2.37 billion level posted in the like period a year ago, according SEMI. The three-month average of worldwide billings was $834.9 million in December, SEMI said. The billings figure is approximately 0.7% above the revised $829.5 million figure in November, but is 65% below the $2.39 billion level in the like period a year ago, they added. "There are some indications that capacity utilization and unit volume output have improved from the 2001 lows, in particular for some segments of the assembly and test markets," said Stanley Myers, president and CEO of SEMI. "Chip and equipment companies, however, remain cautious about the near-term outlook because of uncertainty with the overall economic recovery," Myers said. The SEMI book-to-bill is a ratio of three-month moving average bookings to three-month moving average billings for the North American semiconductor equipment industry. Billings and bookings figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. siliconstrategies.com