The book-to-bill ratio for North American-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers, such as Applied Materials Inc, rose to 1.04 last month in a sign that the semiconductor equipment industry is back on track this year, semiconductor industry association SEMI’s statistics showed yesterday.
The book-to-bill ratio stood above the key level of one for the fourth straight month, according to SEMI’s statistics.
A book-to-bill ratio of less than one indicates falling demand, while a ratio greater than one indicates growth.
The three-month average of worldwide bookings jumped about 19 percent to US$1.28 billion last month, from US$1.08 billion in the same period last year.
The three-month average of worldwide billings soared 28 percent to US$1.24 billion last month, compared with US$968 million last year.
“Both bookings and billings are at values higher than reported one year ago and are good indications of growth in the 2014 equipment market,” SEMI president and chief executive Denny McGuirk said in a statement.
“Device makers are investing in 20-nanometer technology and advanced device structures, while leading packaging houses focus their investments on flip chip, wafer-level and 3D packaging,” McGuirk said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, said last month that it plans to spend a record-high US$10 billion on new equipment this year.
TSMC, which is also one of the world’s top semiconductor equipment buyers, plans to spend most of the budget developing advanced 20-nanometer, 16-nanometer and 8-nanometer technologies this year.
Taiwan, which invests the most on semiconductor equipment in the world, is expected to spend US$10.99 billion on new equipment this year, up nearly 8 percent from last year’s US$10.19 billion, SEMI forecast.
TSMC chairman Morris Chang (張忠謀) has forecast that the overall semiconductor industry will grow 5 percent year-on-year this year.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure