SEMI reported that worldwide semiconductor manufacturing equipment billings reached $9.11 billion in the second quarter of 2010. The billings figure is 22 percent higher than the first quarter of 2010 and 240 percent higher than the same quarter a year ago.

Worldwide semiconductor equipment bookings were $11.68 billion in the second quarter of 2010. The figure is 296 percent more than the same quarter a year ago and 24 percent greater than the bookings figure for the first quarter of 2010.

The data is gathered jointly with the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan (SEAJ) from over 100 global equipment companies that provide data on a monthly basis.

As reported, front end wafer fab equipment spending is projected to be up 133 percent this year compared to 2009 and is forecast to grow another 18 percent in 2011, according to a forecast created by the SEMI trade group.

Worldwide installed fab capacity, excluding discretes, is expected to grow by 7 percent in 2010 and another 8 percent in 2011, according to SEMI's World Fab Forecast. The report projects that fab construction spending will grow by 125 percent in 2010 and another 22 percent in 2011.

More than 150 fab projects in 2010 and 2011 will be worth an estimated $83 billion in spending, according to the report. The projects tracked include construction projects and equipment spending for high volume, smaller capacity, MEMS, and discrete fabs, including LED fabs, according to SEMI.

Don't look now, but a fab tool downturn could be on the horizon. 2009 was an awful year in the fab tool market. But 2010 is hot, as capital spending is projected to hit $43.2 billion, up 97 percent over 2009, according to Barclays Capital.    

2011 looked promising, but a chip lull appears to have reared its ugly head in recent weeks. Now, Barclays is lowering its capital spending forecast for 2011.

''We now offer a more conservative outlook for minus 10 percent year-over-year versus our previous estimate of plus 20 percent,'' said C.J. Muse, an analyst with the firm, in a report this week. ''In turn, we believe this would translate into WFE (wafer front-end equipment) spending dropping from about $27 billion in 2010 to about $25 billion in 2011. Importantly, we see the likely range for capex in 2011 to be minus 20 percent to plus 20 percent, so we believe this estimate is conservative and reflects likely weakening capex trends in the two areas where we see the greatest risk, foundry and DRAM.''

Cisco, Intel, Samsung and others have issued warnings about a pending slowdown.''  
Samsung was the latest company that warned last week there could be a DRAM glut in Q4 or Q1 of 2011 if PC demand continues to slow. This follows warnings by Cisco and Intel in the previous weeks. With back-to-school demand coming in lower than expected several PC OEMs are cutting prices. They’re also cutting bookings as they lower their build-up plans to account for slower demand and increasing inventories,'' according to VLSI Research Inc.

''Meanwhile, equipment suppliers aren’t seeing any negative changes in their business, yet. Novellus tightened its Q3 guidance last week by raising the bottom end of the company’s guidance range $10 million.  They expect Q3 revenues of $345 million to $365 million, compared to a previous estimate of $335 million to $365 million.  Despite the warning, Samsung said that it’s planning to up their total capex 15 percent in 2011 to about 30 trillion won. So there is plenty of momentum on the equipment side as we approach 2011. However, this could unwind quickly if end-demand deteriorates further,'' according to VLSI.