BANNOCKBURN, IL — The 90-day moving average shipments among North American printed circuit board fabricators rose 11.3% in February from a year ago, according to new data from the IPC trade group.

Shipments fell 1.5% sequentially, but for the year are up 15.5%.

Bookings jumped 17.8% over last year and rose 19.9% from the preceding month. For the year, bookings are up 28.8%.

The book-to-bill ratio rose 90 basis points to 1.33. It was the sixth straight month that orders topped sales.

The ratio is calculated by dividing the value of orders booked over the past three months by the value of sales billed during the same period from companies in IPC’s survey sample. A ratio of more than 1.0 is an indicator of a growing market.

“Another exceptionally strong month of bookings has pushed the PCB Book-to-Bill ratio to a new all-time high, underscoring the strong demand momentum currently in the industry,” said Shawn DuBravac, chief economist, IPC.

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