SAN JOSE — The 90-day moving average orders at North America-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers fell 26.3% year-over-year in November, dashing hopes for a near-term turnaround.

Manufacturers posted $720.4 million in orders in November, down 3% from the revised October level and 26.3% lower than November 2011, SEMI said.

The three-month average of worldwide billings was $911.9 million, down 7.5% from the updated October level and down 22.5% from a year ago. November equipment billings are at a three-year low, SEMI said.

The book-to-bill ratio was 0.79, meaning that $79 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month. A ratio of 1.0 is considered a sign of near-term market gains.

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 US dollars.

Source: SEMI, December 2012