The book-to-bill ratio for North American-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers, such as Applied Materials Inc, rose to a healthy 1.02 last month, up from 0.93 in October, semiconductor industry association SEMI said yesterday.
A ratio of 1.02 means that US$102 worth of orders were received for every US$100 of product billed during the month. The figure indicated a rebound in demand after posting less than one in book-to-bill ratio in the previous two months.
The ratio is used as an indicator of the outlook for the semiconductor industry, with a ratio of above one implying a more optimistic outlook, while a ratio of less than one shows weakness.
“With the rise in bookings, the book-to-bill ratio climbed above parity in November,” SEMI chief executive officer Denny McGuirk said in a statement.
“2014 has been a solid growth year for the semiconductor equipment market and we expect the foundry and memory sector to continue leading investments in 2015,” he said.
The three-month average of worldwide bookings grew 10.4 percent to US$1.22 billion last month, from October’s US$1.1 billion, according to SEMI’s data.
The three-month average of worldwide billings inched up 0.5 percent to US$1.19 billion last month from US$1.18 billion in the prior month.
In related news, Taiwan and South Korea command more than half of global 12-inch wafer production capacity thanks to aggressive efforts in expanding their respective presences in the semiconductor sector, a report said on Thursday.
Semiconductor market information advisory firm IC Insights said in the report that the two countries own a combined 56 percent of the world’s 12-inch wafer capacity and have led the way in capital-intensive segments of the global integrated circuit business, such as foundry services and memorychip supply.
Taiwan accounts for 21 percent of global 12-inch wafer capacity, while South Korea makes up 35 percent, according the figures, which were compiled based on the headquarters of wafer plants from either country, regardless of where the production bases were located.
Additional reporting by CNA
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