Taipei, Dec. 21, 2012 (CENS)--Although North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted a book-to-bill (B/B) ratio of 0.79 for November, which stayed below 1 for a seventh month but representing an improvement from October’s 0.75.
SEMI (Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International), an industry association representing most of the world’s suppliers of semiconductor and LCD capital equipment, on Dec. 19 released the November ratio of North America-based equipment manufacturers.
A book-to-bill of 0.79 means that US$79 worth of orders were received for every US$100 of product billed for the month.
SEMI’s statistics showed that the three-month average of worldwide bookings in November 2012 was US$720.4 million and the three-month average of worldwide billings in November 2012 was US$911.9 million.
The bookings figure is 3.0% lower than the revised October 2012 level of US$742.8 million, and is 26.3% lower than the November 2011 order level of US$977.2 million. The billings figure is 7.5% lower than the revised October 2012 level of US$985.5 million, and is 22.5% less than the November 2011 billings level of US$1.18 billion.
“Economic headwinds, higher chip inventory levels, and soft PC demand are among the factors tempering chip makers’ investment in additional manufacturing capacity,” said Denny McGuirk, president and CEO of SEMI. “Softening in the market for new semiconductor manufacturing equipment has persisted through the second half of 2012 and the November equipment billings are at a three-year low.”
SEMI’s data proved comments by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Morris Chang that world semiconductor industry would experience another uphill year this year.
Equipment suppliers estimated seasonal inventory adjustment at semiconductor manufacturers would end next quarter, when the market they felt would begin to pick up.
