Chip Equipment Orders Fall Yet Again
Semiconductor equipment manufacturers' new orders, or bookings, fell further in May, which could end some hopes that the chip market is about to see a turnaround.
The three-month average of worldwide bookings for May came in at $704 million, according to the
Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International
, a trade group. The May figure is 3% off the revised April figure of $723 million and 75% below the year-earlier's $2.78 billion.
Shipments came in at $1.52 billion, 9% off April's revised $1.66 billion and 30% under May 2000's $2.16 billion.
The closely watched book-to-bill ratio was 0.46, meaning that $46 in new orders were received for every $100 worth of products shipped in the month. In a note Thursday morning,
Credit Suisse First Boston
said it expected the book-to-bill ratio to come in at 0.55 to 0.66.
"While the book-to-bill ratio is slightly elevated from the
prior month, both shipments and orders continued to decline," Stanley Myers, the group's president and CEO, said in a statement. "It is likely that the prospects for sustained year-over-year improvements in monthly shipments are three to four quarters away."