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To: Johnny Canuck who wrote (43198)	3/17/2006 12:37:23 AM
From: Johnny Canuck	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 69299

Related Articles • ISS: Modest Growth, Potential Upside Surprises for 2006 • April Tool Orders Improve Sequentially • Tool Vendors Experienced 67% Sales Growth in '04 • Equipment Orders: In a Word, Lackluster TOP HEADLINES • Ballmer Bullish on People • Semi Capital Spending Up 10% in 2006 • Executive Board to Oversee Infineon North America • Lenovo Reorganizes, Cuts Workforce • NEC President to Step Down • Lattice Settles Class Action Suit • Intersil Taps Analog Veteran, Promotes from Within • Nanometrics Acquires Overlay Metrology Co. for $7M Advertisement Equipment Orders Fell in February Online Staff -- Electronic News, 3/16/2006 The global chip equipment industry closed February in a healthy state, with a Book-to-Bill ratio of 1.24, despite bookings and billings both down sequentially, according to a report today from Santa Clara, Calif.-based VLSI Research Inc. Worldwide equipment bookings for February fell 15 percent sequentially to $4.67 billion, but remained robust, registering a year-over-year growth of 42 percent, according to the Silicon Valley market research firm. Worldwide billings, or shipments for which revenue is recognized, dropped 12.5 percent from January to $3.75 billion. The resulting book-to-bill ratio was 1.24. A ratio of more than 1.00 suggests that current demand is ahead of supply, which indicates probable near-term growth. The equipment industry is turning out unusually strong for this time of the year, according to the market researcher. VLSI Research even revised the January data published last month. Both bookings and billings were revised upwards from $5.1 billion and $4.2 billion, respectively. Chipmakers believed that 2005 would be flat. With the exception of a few, many chipmakers kept their capital spending flat and under-invested in equipment. As utilization rates increased, companies rushed to buy equipment, which is evident in the strong bookings growth, said VLSI Utilization rates did not cool off as expected in February, VLSI said. Front-end utilization hit almost 93 percent, 1.5 percentage points above the previous month’s level. Test and assembly were at 95 percent, also above January levels.