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North American Semiconductor Equipment Industry Posts July 2002 Book-to-Bill Ratio of 1.16

SAN JOSE, Calif., August 20, 2002 -- The North American-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.15 billion in orders in July 2002 (three-month average basis) and a book-to-bill ratio of 1.16, according to the July 2002 Express Report published today by Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI). A book-to-bill of 1.16 means that $116 worth of new orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.

The three-month average of worldwide bookings in July 2002 was $1.15 billion. The bookings figure is two percent below the revised June 2002 level of $1.17 billion yet 50 percent above the $769 million in orders posted in July 2001.

The three-month average of worldwide billings in July 2002 was $995 million. The billings figure is seven percent above the revised June 2002 level of $927 million and 17 percent below the July 2001 billings level of $1.19 billion.

"The July bookings data likely reflects renewed questions about the robustness of the economic recovery and the prospects for the consumption of electronic goods," said Dan Tracy, Ph.D., director of industry research and statistics for SEMI. "The data is consistent with recent announcements of reduced capital spending plans by some global chipmakers and supports the consensus of industry analysts projecting market recovery in 2003."

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.

http://dom.semi.org/web/wpress.nsf/174c224b2afaf5e7882565b60079d14a/489d9a9af703819c88256c1b007662f7....