FOREST GROVE, OR -- Lead times at Merix Corp. have pushed out as much as 25% over the past quarter, company executives said yesterday.

During the period ended Nov. 28, lead times rose approximately two weeks in both Asia and North America and are now at six to eight weeks, said chief financial officer Kelly Lang on a conference call with analysts. For automotive orders, lead times average about 10 weeks, Lang added.

The company said business began picking up in June, and continued through the November quarter in both North America and Asia.

Overall, Merix has seen its book-to-bill ratio rise to 1.12 and backlogs have spiked 26% to $39.8 million.

"[W]e are becoming more confident that these new demand levels are sustainable in to the foreseeable future. Unlike Merix’s past where much of the company’s growth was solely tied to a few customers or market segments, the recent revenue growth we’ve experienced is much more diverse," said Lang.

Lang said the company's utilization rates in North America and Asia are approximately 75% and 85%, respectively, up from about 50% to 55% North America and 65% to 70% in Asia during the August quarter.

The increase in demand has not brought pricing hikes, however. Merix's November quarter average panel pricing rose three points sequentially, but the company attributes the increase primarily to product mix.

"I don’t think the overall environment has changed the pricing dramatically," said chief executive Michael Burger. "I think our improvement has been primarily driven by mix. We haven’t seen pricing substantially improve on an ASP to ASP perspective."

"The pricing environment remains competitive but overall rational," Lang added.

Merix's North American plants saw gross margins grow over 13 points sequentially to about 10% and its Asian margins grew 1.3 points to nearly 15% during the quarter.

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