SAN FRANCISCO — Billings for North American semiconductor manufacturing equipment firms increased on a year-over-year basis for the 10th consecutive month in July, but declined on a sequential basis, according to the SEMI trade association.
"We observed softening in the equipment billings in July following the strong surge in the first half of the year," said Ajit Manocha, president and CEO of SEMI, in a press statement.
The three-month rolling average for equipment billings in July totaled $2.27 billion, down 1.4 percent compared with June, SEMI said. The figure was up 32.8 percent compared with July 2016 billings of $1.71 billion.
Ajit Manocha
Billings have been up at least 20 percent year-over-year in every month since last November as spending by chip makers on capacity increases and migration to new technology nodes sets the stage for what is shaping up to be the biggest year ever in the semiconductor equipment industry. SEMI projects that global semiconductor equipment spending will reach $49.4 billion in 2017, breaking the old record of $47.7 billion set way back in the dot com days of 2000.
"Overall, equipment billings remain significantly up year-over-year, with 2017 on-track to be a record spending year," Manocha said.
July Equipment Billings
The three-month rolling average of semiconductor equipment billings by North American vendors in millions of dollars.
Source: SEMI
The Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan (SEAJ) reported that the three-month rolling average of July billings among Japanese based semiconductor equipment manufacturers totaled 161.7 billion yen (about $1.48 billion), up 50 percent year-over-year and up 6 percent sequentially.
—Dylan McGrath is the editor-in-chief of EE Times.
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