...if ever jump into comments threads, but in this case I believe it makes sense to do so.
Mingy, don't you believe that book-to-bill of "front-end (wafer processing/mask/reticle/wafer manufacturing/fab facilities) equipment and final manufacturing (assembly/packaging/test) equipment" -- as defined by SEMI -- has anything to do with semiconductor final-product sales? Of course it does.
You are, of course, correct, in that my breeziness didn't make that clear, but the book-to-bill ratio of manufacturing equipment is directly related to chip sales. If anything, it's a better indicator of market volatility than pure monthly chip-sale reports due to that fact that fabs are, in many ways, turn-them-on, turn-them off materials-pipes, while the book-to-bill investment in equipment that supports fabs indicates market confidence.
Again, you're correct that I didn't make that clear -- but my original argument that book-to-bill is a good indicator of the overall health of worldwide chip sales still stands.
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I rarely...
...if ever jump into comments threads, but in this case I believe it makes sense to do so.
Mingy, don't you believe that book-to-bill of "front-end (wafer processing/mask/reticle/wafer manufacturing/fab facilities) equipment and final manufacturing (assembly/packaging/test) equipment" -- as defined by SEMI -- has anything to do with semiconductor final-product sales? Of course it does.
You are, of course, correct, in that my breeziness didn't make that clear, but the book-to-bill ratio of manufacturing equipment is directly related to chip sales. If anything, it's a better indicator of market volatility than pure monthly chip-sale reports due to that fact that fabs are, in many ways, turn-them-on, turn-them off materials-pipes, while the book-to-bill investment in equipment that supports fabs indicates market confidence.
Again, you're correct that I didn't make that clear -- but my original argument that book-to-bill is a good indicator of the overall health of worldwide chip sales still stands.