The US Semiconductor Industry Association’s book-to-bill ratio for January improved marginally, coming in at 0.96 against 0.95 for December, and 0.93 for November, which was revised upwards from the preliminary figure of 0.90. The Association says however that sales and orders to the US market both declined from December’s figures. January orders on the three-month moving average, were $1,107m, down 2.8% on the December figure and 10.2% lower than the comparable figure one year ago. Shipments for January based on a three-month moving average declined 3.7% to $1,158.6m on the December figure, but were 9.7% better than the year-ago figure. Actual shipments in January were $1,101.4m, down 7.6% on the figure for the month of December alone; January orders were 4.3% up at $1,055.8m on December.
