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To: niek who wrote (1220)	9/20/2006 12:57:11 PM
From: niek	Respond to of 42944

Chip equipment orders in Japan level off; book-to-bill heads down The Semiconductor Reporter September 20, 2006 TOKYO -- The three-month moving average of bookings reported by Japan-based suppliers of semiconductor production equipment declined 3.2% in August compared to July, according to the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan. The 3MMA bookings (orders) figure was 42.4% above the year-ago August figure, coming in at ¥167.39 billion ($1.452 billion U.S.). This compares with sequentially flat equipment bookings reported for North American equipment makers, on a 3MMA basis, by SEMI yesterday (see Sept. 19 story). The period of rising orders for the global equipment industry appears to have come to an end, although the market has not yet turned around to record declining orders, as of August. The actual (unaveraged) August bookings figure for Japan's equipment suppliers was ¥150.84 billion ($1.302 billion), up 1.8% compared to July and up 41.4% compared to August 2005. Bookings had dropped 27% sequentially in July after peaking in June. The six-month moving average book-to-bill ratio for Japan's equipment suppliers confirmed a turn in the downwards direction, although it is still well above parity. The 6MMA B:B had risen fairly steadily for a little over a year, peaking at 1.21 in June. It then slipped to 1.19 in July and with today's new data, came down to 1.16 for August. Unaveraged billings (sales) of equipment by Japan's equipment makers in August was ¥147.45 billion ($1.273 billion), up 2.2% compared to July and up 29.5% compared to August 2005. On a 3MMA basis, billings were ¥144.31 billion ($1.226 billion), up 8.1% compared to the July 3MMA figure and up 27.5% compared to August 2005. The 3MMA billings and B:B figures from Japan tend to follow a sawtooth pattern due to the billings spikes that normally occur in September and March. The 3MMA B:B is in the downward portion of the sawtooth pattern, and dropped from 1.30 for July to 1.16 in August. Assuming the pattern holds this year, the 3MMA B:B will drop again for September under the influence of a strong month for billings, unless another big jump in bookings occurs, something not expected by industry analysts.