The Semiconductor Industry Association’s book-to-bill ratio climbed to 1.13 in the three months to February, just topping the January figure, which was revised upwards to 1.12 from the 1.1 announced a month ago. The increase marked the fifth consecutive month that a rise has been reported. The 1.12 for January compares with the revised 1.06 that was reported for December. Average shipments for the three months to February were $699.4m, up just 0.2% from the figure for the three months to January. Shipments in the month of February were $677.8m, an increase of 4.9% on the figure for January. Average new orders for the three months to February were up less than 1% at $788.2 over the January figure, all of which means that things may be improving, but so far only a few buoyant sectors, notably chips for fast IBM Personalikes, are seeing anything like boom conditions as yet.
Content from our partners
