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North American semiconductor equipment book-to-bill ratio continues in negative territory
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In a ongoing sign of the weakness of the semiconductor equipment sector and the global economy in general, orders and billings for chipmaking gear continued to slip as the SEMI book-to-bill ratio for December 2008 hit 0.93.
North American manufacturers of semiconductor tools posted $668.7 million in orders in December (three-month average basis), about 15% less than the final November level of $783.3 million and some 42% less than the $1.16 billion in orders seen in December 2007.
The three-month average of worldwide billings in December was $722.6 million, according to SEMI. The billings figure is about 10% less than the final November 2008 level of $806.8 million and 47% below December 2007's three-month average billings level of $1.36 billion.
The latest data mark the fourth consecutive month that billings failed
to reach the billion-dollar mark and the seventh consecutive period
that the bookings numbers fell short of that figure.
"Bookings continue to reflect the uncertainty in the economic environment and are approaching levels last seen in early 2002," said Dan Tracy, SEMI's senior director of industry research and statistics. "We expect bookings to remain at low levels until end market demand for semiconductors picks up."
Market analysts at SEMI's recent Industry Strategy Symposium provided dim outlooks for the sector, forecasting double-digit sales losses for the semiconductor equipment market in 2009, with recovery unlikely to occur until 2010.