SAN JOSE – The 90-day moving average orders at North America-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers was $1.62 billion in May, up 6.2% from last year.

The book-to-bill ratio for the month was 0.97, SEMI said. A ratio of 0.97 means that $97 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.

The three-month average worldwide bookings rose 1.1% from revised April levels, and 6.2% from May 2010.

The three-month average worldwide billings rose 2% from April to $1.67 billion. Billings were up 24% over May 2010.

“Three-month average bookings improved slightly in May and both bookings and billings are higher than one year ago,” said Stanley T. Myers, president and CEO of SEMI. “As we approach the half-year point, the data substantiates global industry expectations for double-digit growth this year.”

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.

Source: SEMI June 2011