At just 0.80, the US Semiconductor Industry Association’s chip book-to-bill ratio was much worse than expected, and cast a pall of gloom over semiconductor counters yesterday. The March figure of 0.80 compares with a February figure revised down to 0.89, compared with the 0.90 reported at the time. Analysts once again have egg on their faces: the consensus had been for about 0.90 again. Both were weak, but it was the numerator rather than the denominator that did most of the damage – shipments were down 3.0% at $4,160m but orders were down a whopping 12.6% compared with the February figure at $3,330m. The Association is given to whistling in the dark, and says that the numbers suggest that the chip market is stabilizing as companies work out inventory problems created by sluggish sales in late 1995. Demand in the US has been soft but worldwide, the problem was not as bad, it added.
