SAB 101 sets forth guidelines on the timing of revenue recognition based upon factors such as passage of title, installation obligations, and payment and customer acceptance terms. Orders for the Fourth Quarter of 2000 totaled $651.6 million.
Teradyne had a terrific year in 2000, said George Chamillard, Chairman and CEO. Sales broke $3.0 billion for the first time, with growth of 70%, mainly driven by growth of almost 100% in our connections systems business and of about 70% in our semiconductor test business. We had record net income of $518 million, and we improved our product positioning across the board. In the Fourth Quarter, we had sales of $789 million, our second highest quarter ever, and we earned $0.66 per share, in line with our guidance.
As we begin 2001 in semiconductor test, the environment is much less favorable than was true at the beginning of 2000. There appears to be excess capacity in the industry, there are concerns about the economies of several countries that drive technology spending, and many of the end markets that have been driving the industry for the last two years are forecasted to grow less than in the past. It appears that these conditions will impact our semiconductor test business for the foreseeable future. In our connections systems operation, business continues to be very healthy. We have a continued aggressive growth plan for 2001 as our customers continue to search for higher bandwidth solutions to expand the use of the Internet. Our circuit board test and inspection business and our broadband test business are also well positioned to add to our growth for the foreseeable future.
Going forward, we have aligned our business to better reflect the current environment. In the First Quarter, we expect to lower shipments 20% from the fourth quarter and to earn about $0.30 per share. We currently hold the view that 2001 will have a slow first half and a better second half, but the only thing that we know for certain is that the industry is very volatile and we therefore will remain flexible and will capitalize on the conditions that present themselves. We are confident that our broad range of businesses and our array of new products will give us a competitive advantage as the year evolves.
