US-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment had a March book-to-bill ratio of 1.14, meaning that $114 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.
The three-month average of worldwide bookings in March 2013 was $1.14 billion. The bookings figure is 5.9% higher than the final February 2013 level of $1.07 billion, and is 21.3% lower than the March 2012 order level of $1.45 billion.
"While the overall expansion of new manufacturing capacity remains muted, we see continued investment in technology upgrades by the world's chip makers," says Denny McGuirk, CEO of SEMI.
The SEMI book-to-bill has risen from 0.75 in October, to 0.79 in November, to 0.92 in December, to 1.11 in January, down to 1.10 in February and back up to 1.14 in March
