Zeev's Turnips Patch-No Politics (ZEEV)

[Joe Stocks]

North American Semiconductor Equipment Industry Posts August 2003 Book-to-Bill Ratio of 0.91

SAN JOSE, Calif., September 17, 2003 -- North American-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $721 million in orders in August 2003 (three-month average basis) and a book-to-bill ratio of 0.91, according to the August 2003 Express Report published today by SEMI. A book-to-bill of 0.91 means that $91 worth of new orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.

The three-month average of worldwide bookings in August 2003 was $721 million. The bookings figure is two percent above the revised July 2003 level of $707 million and 29 percent below the $1.02 billion in orders posted in August 2002.

The three-month average of worldwide billings in August 2003 was $789.9 million. The billings figure is slightly above the revised July 2003 level of $785.9 million and 21 percent below the August 2002 billings level of $995 million.

"Overall bookings and billings figures for North American-based semiconductor capital equipment providers have remained essentially flat over the past several months," said Dan Tracy, Ph.D., director of Industry Research and Statistics for SEMI. "Indicators such as increasing utilization of IC manufacturing capacity and growth in semiconductor markets point to more favorable conditions for equipment makers. However, they have not yet translated into significant improvement in orders or sales."

The SEMI book-to-bill is a ratio of three-month moving average bookings to three-month moving average billings for the North American semiconductor equipment industry. Billings and bookings figures are in millions of U.S. dollars.

 
  
  Billings 
 (Three-month avg.) Bookings 
 (Three-month avg.) Book-to-Bill  
 March 2003 857.1 777.3 0.91  
 April 2003 840.4 757.3 0.90  
 May 2003 805.4 723.5 0.90  
 June 2003  776.5 722.3 0.93  
 July 2003 (final) 785.9 706.9 0.90  
 August 2003 (prelim.) 789.9 720.6 0.91