KUALA LUMPUR: North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted US$1.38bil in global orders in March 2016, the best in six months, which reflected the recovery in the sector.
The San Jose, California-based Semiconductor Equipment Manufacturers Industry (SEMI) said on Friday the US$1.38bil was on a three-month average basis while the March book-to-bill ratio was 1.15.
A book-to-bill of 1.15 means that US$115 worth of orders were received for every US$100 of product billed for the month. This was also the best in six months also.
“The bookings figure is 9.4% higher than the final February 2016 level of US$1.26bil, and is 0.9% lower than the March 2015 order level of US$1.39bil,” it said.
SEMI said the three-month average of worldwide billings in March 2016 was US$1.20bil. The billings figure was 5.3% lower than the March 2015 billings level of US$1.27bil.
Its president and CEO Denny McGuirk said order activity remained steady and was on par with both the previous quarter and one year ago.
“The 3D NAND and advanced logic are the key drivers for investments,” he said.
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