Industry Expert Blogs
Semiconductor equipment spending beginning to decline-September 26, 2011 |
Semiconductor manufacturing equipment shipments have leveled off after a strong rebound from the 2008-2009 downturn. August 2011 three-month-average shipments based on combined data from SEMI (North American and European companies) and SEAJ (Japanese companies) were $2.9 billion, down from a peak of $3.2 billion in May 2011. Three-month-average bookings have dropped significantly to $2.2 billion in August, down 31% from the peak of $3.3 billion in August 2010. The book-to-bill ratio dropped to 0.78 in August, indicating continuing declines in billings.