North American Semiconductor Equipment Industry Posts April 2006 Book-to-Bill Ratio of 1.11

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North American Semiconductor Equipment Industry Posts April 2006 Book-to-Bill Ratio of 1.11
    SAN JOSE, Calif., May 18 /PRNewswire/ -- North American-based
manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.60 billion in orders in
April 2006 (three-month average basis) and a book-to-bill ratio of 1.11
according to the April 2006 Book-to-Bill Report published today by SEMI. A
book-to-bill of 1.11 means that $111 worth of orders were received for
every $100 of product billed for the month.
    The three-month average of worldwide bookings in April 2006 was $1.60
billion. The bookings figure is almost 16 percent higher than the final
March 2006 level of $1.39 billion and over 60 percent higher than the $999
million in orders posted in April 2005.
    The three-month average of worldwide billings in April 2006 was $1.45
billion. The billings figure is eight percent above the final March 2006
level of $1.34 billion and almost 17 percent above the April 2005 billings
level of $1.24 billion.
    "The book-to-bill continues into its fifth consecutive month of growth,
and third over parity," said Stanley T. Myers, president and CEO of SEMI.
"This continued trend points to increasing confidence in the market and a
healthy year over year billings growth in 2006."
    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.)
    November 2005             1,179.7             1,093.2            0.93
    December 2005             1,223.6             1,142.7            0.93
    January 2006              1,259.4             1,225.9            0.97
    February 2006             1,283.3             1,293.2            1.01
    March 2006 (final)        1,338.7             1,385.3            1.03
    April 2006 (prelim.)      1,448.5             1,602.4            1.11
    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 May 2006 SEMI Book-to-Bill Report is scheduled for publication on
June 15, 2006; 3:00 p.m. PDT (subject to change).
    Independently from SEMI, The Semiconductor Equipment Association of
Japan (SEAJ) releases its April 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, +1-408-943-7957, or
ssmith@semi.org, both of SEMI