US semiconductor bookings and billings reached an all-time high in March – but the former improved more than the latter, leaving the book-to-bill ratio at 1.06, compared with 1.07 for February but Intel Corp’s first quarter figures (CI No 1,156) also brought a pleasant surprise, being rather stronger than analysts had feared. The broad figures, from the US Semiconductor Industry Association, show that at $1,431.2m, March shipments were 13.3% higher than the February figure, and 12.1% higher than the last all-time billings high of $1,277m in September 1988. They were also 16% ahead of the December figure – the last quarter-ending month and 26.8% higher than the figure for a year ago. Average monthly orders for the three-month period to March were $1,344.9m, 8.2% above the figure for February and 4.4% higher than the last all-time bookings high in June 1988. The figure for March alone was was 17.3% higher than for December and 17.8% higher than a year ago. Three-month average shipments for March totalled $1,268.6m to produce the book-to-bill ratio for March of 1.06. For the period ending in January, the three-month average billings have been revised to $1,169m to produce a revised book-to-bill ratio of 1.02, up from the 1.0 announced in February. On the Intel front, the 4% rise in net profits to $97m on sales up 12% were a pleasant surprise to analysts spooked by Intel’s warning in November that overstocking of 80386 chips by manufacturers would hit the fourth quarter and might spill over into the first quarter of 1989. Intel’s problem is that a lot of the recovery during the quarter was spurred by rush orders that came in during the period for delivery before the end of March – and the company therefore has no hard trendline evidence. The company says longer term backlogs remain low.
