North American Semiconductor Equipment Industry Posts December 2006 Book-to-Bill Ratio of 1.05

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North American Semiconductor Equipment Industry Posts December 2006 Book-to-Bill Ratio of 1.05
    SAN JOSE, Calif., Jan. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- North American-based
manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.52 billion in orders in
December 2006 (three-month average basis) and a book-to-bill ratio of 1.05
according to the December 2006 Book-to-Bill Report published today by SEMI.
A book-to-bill of 1.05 means that $105 worth of orders were received for
every $100 of product billed for the month.
    The three-month average of worldwide bookings in December 2006 was
$1.52 billion. The bookings figure is about seven percent higher than the
final November 2006 level of $1.43 billion and 33 percent above the $1.14
billion in orders posted in December 2005.
    The three-month average of worldwide billings in December 2006 was
$1.45 billion. The billings figure is about two percent less than the final
November 2006 level of $1.49 billion and over 18 percent higher than the
December 2005 billings level of $1.22 billion.
    "The three month average trends for North American semiconductor
equipment bookings and billings diverged in December, with a slight
decrease in billings and an uptick in bookings," said Stanley T. Myers,
president and CEO of SEMI. "However, bookings have declined seven percent
when viewed quarter over quarter."
    The SEMI book-to-bill is a ratio of three-month moving averages of
worldwide bookings and billings for North American-based semiconductor
equipment manufacturers.  Billings and bookings figures are in millions of
U.S. dollars.

                                Billings           Bookings      Book-to-Bill
                            (Three-month avg.) (Three-month avg.)
    July 2006                    1,637.9           1,734.6           1.06
    August 2006                  1,742.8           1,729.7           0.99
    September 2006               1,672.8           1,639.2           0.98
    October 2006                 1,562.9           1,468.6           0.94
    November 2006 (final)        1,486.1           1,426.5           0.95
    December 2006 (prelim.)      1,450.1           1,520.0           1.05
    The data contained in this release was compiled by David Powell, Inc.,
an independent financial services firm, without audit, from data submitted
directly by the participants. SEMI and David Powell, Inc. assume no
responsibility for the accuracy of the underlying data.
    The data are contained in a monthly Book-to-Bill Report published by
SEMI. The report tracks billings and bookings worldwide of North
American-headquartered manufacturers of equipment used to manufacture
semiconductor devices, not billings and bookings of the chips themselves.
    SEMI is a global industry association serving companies that provide
equipment, materials and services used to manufacture semiconductors,
displays, nano-scaled structures, micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS)
and related technologies. SEMI maintains offices in Austin, Beijing,
Brussels, Hsinchu, Moscow, San Jose (Calif.), Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore,
Tokyo and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit http://www.semi.org .
    Editors Note:
    The January 2007 SEMI Book-to-Bill Report is scheduled for publication
on February 15, 2007; 3:00 p.m. PST (subject to change).
    Independently from SEMI, The Semiconductor Equipment Association of
Japan (SEAJ) releases its October Book-to-Bill Report on approximately the
same date. The SEAJ Book-to-Bill Report tracks billings and bookings
worldwide of Japanese-headquartered semiconductor equipment manufacturers.
For more information on the SEAJ data, visit http://www.seaj.or.jp .
SOURCE SEMI
http://www.semi.org/
CONTACT:
Dan Tracy, +1-408-943-7987, or
dtracy@semi.org, or Scott Smith, +1-1-408-943-7957, or
ssmith@semi.org, both of SEMI