Japan chip gear book-to-bill slips to 1.07 in April 2010, says SEAJ

Japan-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted a book-to-bill ratio of 1.07 in April 2010, compared to 1.17 in the prior month, according to the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan (SEAJ). The book-to-bill ratio of 1.07 means 107 yen worth of orders was received for every 100 yen of product billed for the month.

SEAJ: Japan semiconductor equipment book-to-bill ratio, April 2010 (m yen)
	Billings (three-month avg.)	Bookings (three-month avg.)	Book-to-bill ratio
November 2009	57,268	70,016	1.22
December 2009	59,557	77,386	1.30
January 2010	62,485	85,058	1.36
February 2010	64,610	86,296	1.34
March 2010 (final)	83,314	97,179	1.17
April 2010 (prelim)	93,606	100,248	1.07

Japan-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers received 100.25 billion yen (US$3.12 billion) in orders in April, up 3.2% from the revised level of 97.18 billion yen in March, said SEAJ. Compared to 17.95 billion yen in orders posted in April 2009, the bookings figure jumped 458.6%.

The three-month average of worldwide billings reached 93,61 billion yen in April, up 12.4% from the final March 2010 level of 83.31 billion yen, and 132% higher than the billings level of 40.35 billion yen a year earlier, according to SEAJ.