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B/B Ratio Rises to 1.06 in March to Above-1 for Sixth Month

2014/04/29 | By Ken Liu

North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor capital equipment posted a book-to-bill (B/B) ratio of 1.06 in March 2014, on three-month average basis, with orders of  US$1.28 billion worldwide, according to a report recently published by Semiconductor Equipment & Materials International (SEMI).

A B/B of 1.06 means that US$106 of orders were received for every US$100 of product billed for the month.

The March ratio is up from February's 1.01 and another above-one result for the sixth consecutive month, suggesting an expanding global semiconductor industry.

Nevertheless, the organization warns that the ratio is likely to begin falling at the end of the third quarter this year, indicating that the intense investments by chipmakers in capital equipment in recent months could slow down.

Industry executives predict the world's top-3 silicon foundries, namely Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), Intel Corp., and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., to slow capital expenditure after the third quarter.

Regardless of the company's two-fold growth in first-quarter earnings, ASML, the biggest vendor of semiconductor capital equipment in Europe, has cut its earning forecast for the first half of this year due to reduction in orders from some customers.

According to SEMI, the three-month average of worldwide bookings in March 2014 was US$1.28 billion, 1.2% lower than the final February 2014 level of US$1.30 billion, and  16.1% higher than the March 2013 order level of US$1.10 billion.

The three-month average of worldwide billings in March 2014 was US$1.21 billion, 5.9% lower than the final February 2014 level of US$1.29 billion, and 22.3% higher than the March 2013 billings level of US$991.0 million. (KL)

Billings and Bookings of North American Semiconductor Equipment Industry

Unit: US$1 million.

Billings
(3-mo. avg)

Bookings
(3-mo. avg)

Book-to-Bill

October 2013

1,071.0

1,124.5

1.05

November 2013

1,113.9

1,238.0

1.11

December 2013

1,349.7

1,380.8

1.02

January 2014

1,233.2

1,280.3

1.04

February 2014 (final)

1,288.3

1,295.4

1.01

March 2014 (prelim)

1,212.1

1,280.4

1.06

Source: SEMI, April 2014