North American-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted US$973.3 million in orders last month, bringing the book-to-bill ratio to 0.83, the highest level since July, a report released by global industry association Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) said yesterday.
However, that also marked the 14th consecutive month the ratio, a key indicator in assessing the health of the semiconductor industry, has failed to reach the healthy level of 1.
“We see improvement in the book-to-bill ratio due to a slight increase in bookings as we approach the end of this year,” SEMI president and chief executive Denny McGuirk said in a statement released yesterday.
However, the industry is still waiting for definitive signs of stability in the worldwide economy, which would improve end market demand and help solidify investment plans for next year, McGuirk said.
The SEMI book-to-bill ratio measures three-month moving averages of worldwide bookings and billings for North American-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers. A book-to-bill ratio of 0.83 means US$83 of orders was received for every US$100 of products billed last month, the release said.
Last month, the three-month average of worldwide bookings was US$973.3 million, 35.7 percent below the US$1.51 billion in orders posted in November last year, but 5 percent more than the final October level of US$926.8 million.
In addition, the three-month average of worldwide billings fell 25.1 percent from a year earlier to US$1.17 billion, the report said.
On a monthly basis, the billings figure was 6.7 percent less than the final level of US$1.26 billion in August, data showed.
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