Chipmakers raised their capacity utilization to the highest level in almost four years in the quarter ended June 30, industry figures showed.
Global chipmakers used 95.4 percent of their production capacity in the second quarter, the highest since the July-September quarter of 2000, according to the Semiconductor International Capacity Statistics.
The figures include production by 45 chipmakers from the US, Europe, Japan, Korea and Taiwan.
Capacity utilization has risen for six straight quarters, today's second-quarter chipmaking figures showed.
Chipmakers produced the equivalent of 1.341 million 200-millimeter wafers a week in the second quarter, compared with maximum production capacity of 1.406 million wafers a week.
Semiconductor Equipment & Materials International said last week that orders to North American companies that sell equipment used to build semiconductors more than doubled in July from a year earlier.
Growth from a month earlier was the smallest in a year.
The book-to-bill ratio for North American chip-tool makers was 1.05 in July, indicating they received $105 in orders for every $100 in sales, the San Jose, California-based trade group said in a statement.
The book-to-bill ratio measures industry health and was revised to 1.07 in June, compared with 1.10 in May.
A ratio above 1 indicates growth in the sector.
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