The US Semiconductor Industry Association’s chip book-to-bill ratio for June improved more than had been expected on the May figure as reported (CI No 2,952), but was still well under water. The provisional ratio was 0.91, up from a revised 0.83 for May, but painfully down on the booming 1.17 of a year ago. The reported May figure was 0.84, so the number has been revised down a notch. Orders did rise 0.7% in June over the May figure, to $3,110m, which is down a whopping 27.9% from the year-ago figure, but shipments slumped 7.5% to $3,430m and 7.5% on the year-ago figure, which holds out a little hope for the immediate future. The ratio now covers the North and South American markets. The ratio has been below 1.0 since the start of the year. It was 0.92 in January, 0.89 in February and 0.79 in March, the lowest since the trade group began keeping track in 1987.
