The total order amount for pre-process equipment in May was 1.54 billion dollars.
Orders increased from the previous month's $1.4 billion, resulting in a book-to-book ratio of 1.09.

According to the May Book-to-Book Ratio report released by the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI), North American semiconductor equipment companies had net orders (three-month average) of $1.75 billion in May 2016, resulting in a book-to-book ratio of 1.09. The book-to-book ratio is calculated by dividing orders by shipments. A book-to-book ratio of 1.09 means orders were received for every $100 of shipments.

Orders for front-end equipment reached $1.54 billion in May, up from $1.4 billion the previous month and a 15.3% increase compared to the same period last year (May 2015). Shipments of front-end equipment reached $1.38 billion in May, resulting in a book-to-book ratio of 1.11 (compared to 1.09 in April). Front-end equipment shipments in April were $1.28 billion, compared to $1.35 billion in May of the previous year (the front-end equipment category includes wafer processing, mask/reticle manufacturing, wafer manufacturing, and fab facilities).


<Source: SEMI, June 2016>

Orders for post-processing equipment reached $210 million in May, a slight increase from the $200 million reported in April. Shipments in May reached $220 million, resulting in a book-to-value ratio (BBR) of 0.96 for post-processing equipment (compared to the April BBR of 1.16). For reference, the shipment value of post-processing equipment in April was $180 million, and both the shipment value and the order value in May of the previous year were $210 million (the post-processing equipment category includes assembly and packaging, and test equipment).

“Semiconductor equipment orders and shipments continue to increase,” said Denny McGuirk, president of SEMI. “This figure correlates with anticipated significant investment in the second half of the year.”