North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted US$984.8 million in orders last month, bringing the book-to-bill ratio to 0.75, the lowest level since May 2009, a report released by the global industry association Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) said yesterday.
That also marked the 12th consecutive month the ratio, a key indicator in assessing the health of the semiconductor industry, has failed to reach the healthy level of 1.
“Both billings and booking continue to decline with three-month average bookings almost reaching a value last reported in late 2009,” SEMI president and CEO Stanley Myers said in a statement released yesterday.
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 0.75 means US$75 worth 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$984.8 million, 15.3 percent less than the final August figure of US$1.16 billion, and 40.4 percent below the US$1.65 billion in orders posted from the same period last year, according to the report’s data.
In addition, the three-month average of worldwide billings fell 18.4 percent from a year earlier to US$1.31 billion, the report said.
On a monthly basis, the billings figure was 9.8 percent less than the final level of US$1.46 billion in August, data showed.
While device makers are investing in advanced technology, broader investments await stability in the overall economic outlook, Myers said.
Despite the continuing poor outlook for the semiconductor sector, Citigroup Global Markets analyst Roland Shu (徐振志) expected the inventory level in most Taiwanese semiconductor firms to decline further, with restocking demand to surface from the second quarter next year on lean inventory.
“Overall demand is likely to bottom from the first quarter next year, yet remain tepid, in our view,” Shu said in a research report on Tuesday.
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