Chip Equipment Orders Up; Shipments Drop

North America-based semiconductor equipment manufacturing companies saw orders rise 5% in October, to $651.1 million, from September, but shipments declined 5%, reflecting continued excess capacity and weak overall demand.

Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International said its book-to-bill ratio was 0.71, meaning that $71 worth of new orders were received for every $100 of product shipped for the month.

The three-month rolling average of worldwide orders in October was down 78% from a year ago, while shipments were down 64%.