The US semiconductor market is showing healthy signs of restocking in the latest monthly snapshot from the Semiconductor Industry Association, which shows that orders for February set an all-time record and the book-to-bill ratio hit 1.12. Average orders for the three months to February rose 4.9% over the January figure to $1,518.1m and were 12.5% up on the comparable figure a year ago. Semiconductor shipments on the same basis were up 2.6% at $1,358.4m, 14% up on the February 1991 figure. Actual shipments to the US market in February were up 8.4% at $1,394.7m over the January figure, better by 14.6% than in February 1991.The February book-to-bill ratio of 1.12 companies with a revised January ratio of 1.09 compared with the preliminary 1.08 reported last month. Although both sales and orders were lower, the ratio was catually better one year ago the book-to-bill ratio for February 1991 was 1.14, which has not been bettered in the last 12 months but was equalled in April. The nadir was 0.94 in September.
