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Equipment bookings inch higher in April
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According to the latest book-to-bill figures from SEMI, equipment orders were US$253 million in April, up slightly from the incredible low of US$245.6 million in March, 2009. The book-to-bill ratio was 0.65, up from 0.56 in the previous month. March could now be the low point in equipment sales from North America-based IC equipment manufacturers. However, the April bookings are a massive 77% less than the US$1.09 billion in orders posted in April 2008.
"Capital investment by chip makers remains limited and bookings for semiconductor manufacturing equipment from North America-based companies have been essentially flat at extraordinarily low levels for the past quarter" said Stanley T. Myers, president and CEO of SEMI.
The three-month average of worldwide billings in April 2009 was US$389.9 million. The billings figure is 11 percent less than the final March 2009 level of US$438.3 million, and about 71 percent less than the April 2008 billings level of US$1.34 billion.
