Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Semicon equipment book-to-bill ratio rose above parity in June: VLSI Research

SANTA CLARA, USA: Semiconductor equipment manufacturers posted a Book-to-Bill ratio of 1.01 in June, according to VLSI Research.

It was the first increase above parity since July 2008. Worldwide equipment bookings amounted to $2.5 billion in June, up 40 percent sequentially, but down 41 percent from the same month a year ago.

Worldwide billings jumped 31 percent from the previous month to $2.4 billion, but were still a 57 percent lower from a year ago.Source: VLSI Research Inc.; Chip Making Markets subscription service

Even though bookings and billings remain well below normal levels, business activity is beginning to improve. Back-end suppliers, in particular, are seeing a considerable pick up in business activity amid soaring utilization rates at the subcons.

At the front-end, most of the equipment orders are still technology-related, driven primarily by the 3x and 4x nm ramp. In addition, the transition to DDR3 is finally picking up and is beginning to drive some orders in the memory sector, which had been lifeless for months.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.