North American semiconductor equipment makers posted record sales in November, ringing up an average $110 in orders for every $100 worth of products shipped, preliminary data released late on Monday by trade group, Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI), reveal. The book-to-bill ratio calculates a three-month moving average of the ratio of booking to billings to project the industry’s growth prospects.
In contrast to last month’s figures, an average of $108 in orders was received for every $100 in shipments for October. November bookings rose to a record $170bn, up 6% from October and 122% from November 1998. In absolute dollar terms, last month’s bookings were 4% higher than the previous all-time high of $1.63bn in November 1997, before a sales downturn set in for the characteristically boom-to-bust cycle chip industry.
The growth pattern in semiconductor sales and the increasing adoption of new technologies have helped drive continued strength in the equipment market, said Stanley Myers, president of SEMI, in a statement. Shipments in November were $1.5bn – 4% above the previous month’s figure and 69% up on the $913m reported in the year-ago month, the trade group added.
Analyst Kathryn Buegert of investment bank Credit Suisse First Boston said in a research note that chip makers are increasing capital budgets to increase production capacity to cope with spiraling demand for chips. Buegert said demand was accelerating by 15% to 20% this year, and would likely increase by 25% in 2000.
