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The Association said the book-to-bill ratio, which measures new orders against shipments, rose to 0.90 in August from 0.86 in July.
This ratio tells whether the company has more orders than it can deliver (if greater than 1), has the same amount of orders that it can deliver (equals 1), or has less orders than it can deliver (under 1). This monthly figure is used frequently for companies in the technology and chip (semiconductor) sector.