Lam Research Corp. supplies WFE and services that are vital to the production of semiconductors. It offers a range of products used in thin film deposition, plasma etch, photoresist strip, and wafer cleaning processes. Lam has grown its SAM to about 34% of total industry spending on WFE, partly by merging with Novellus Systems in 2012. The customer base includes makers of memory and logic chips, with system shipments representing 60%-65% of revenue and services the remaining 35%-40%.

The major stock indices are generally flat at midday. Individual names, mostly impacted by earnings, are driving the action (with, for example, Amazon up 15% and Apple down 10%). This comes after two days of volatility, with stocks down broadly on Wednesday after the FOMC meeting and broadly higher on Thursday in a mood reversal. Argus' technical analyst, Mark Arbeter, CMT, notes that despite the recent carnage in many semi names and the inconsistent performance of the Mag 7 stocks, the S&P 500 remains in the middle of a three-month trading range, with little if any technical damage. The flat indices performance today closes out a generally flattish week, with the five-day data as of midday leaving the S&P 500 up 0.5%, the DJIA up 0.8%, and the Nasdaq up 0.7%. The 30-year Treasury bond yield spiked to its highest levels since 2007 this week.

Lam Research is one of the largest semiconductor wafer fabrication equipment manufacturers in the world. It specializes in deposition and etch, which entail the buildup of layers on a semiconductor and the subsequent selective removal of patterns from each layer. Lam holds the top market share in etch and holds the clear second share in deposition. It is more exposed to memory chipmakers for DRAM and NAND chips. It counts as top customers the largest chipmakers in the world, including TSMC, Samsung, Intel, and Micron.

Lam Research is one of the largest semiconductor wafer fabrication equipment manufacturers in the world. It specializes in deposition and etch, which entail the buildup of layers on a semiconductor and the subsequent selective removal of patterns from each layer. Lam holds the top market share in etch and holds the clear second share in deposition. It is more exposed to memory chipmakers for DRAM and NAND chips. It counts as top customers the largest chipmakers in the world, including TSMC, Samsung, Intel, and Micron.