Weak start of German semiconductor industry

The cumulative growth in Germany lay at minus nine percent in January 2008, compared to the same period last year. The Book-to-Bill-Ratio, an indicator for the medium-term trend, was with 1.05 close to the previous months figure. However, it is to say that this figure will top the mean value of 1.00 in only the rarest cases with more than 0.05. This admittedly raises hopes for an improvement; however the current trend goes towards a high one-digit minus figure. Moreover, we have to allude to the significant influence the Euro/Dollar-rate has on these minus figures. To illustrate; the growth in the German semiconductor industry lay at plus 3 percent (using the Dollar); compared to minus nine percent in Euro. The trend is even slightly higher than that.