The Semiconductor Industry Association’s book-to-bill indicator for the health of the US chip market slumped to 1.0 for July, compared with 1.06 in June and a revised 1.15 in May, and the first time it has been so weak since November. The Association says that average orders for the three months to July were down 6.4% from the June figure at $1,270m, although they were up 3% on the figure for July a year ago. Shipments in July were a whopping 16.7% down on the June figure at $1,296m, and down 6.4% from the figure for July last year. Three month average shipments for the period to July were $1,190m to produce the book-to-bill ratio of 1.0.
