Semiconductor manufacturing equipment billings up in Q1

The billings figure is 32% percent higher than the fourth quarter of 2009 and 142% higher than the same quarter a year ago. The data is gathered in jointly with the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan (SEAJ) from more than 120 global equipment companies that provide data on a monthly basis. Worldwide semiconductor equipment bookings were US$9.41 billion in the first quarter of 2010. The figure is 484% more than the same quarter a year ago and 28% greater than the bookings figure for the fourth quarter of 2009. The quarterly billings data by region in millions of U.S. dollars, year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter growth rates by region are as follows: