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Lam Research supplies machines that chipmakers use to add thin layers of material to wafers, remove selected material to form features, and clean wafer surfaces. These steps—deposition, etching and cleaning—help manufacture memory and logic chips. Sales of new advanced equipment bring in most of its revenue. Customers also pay for service, spare parts and upgrades throughout the equipment’s life, and buy its Reliant equipment for processes that do not need the most advanced capabilities.
A small group of large chipmakers accounts for a significant share of revenue; major customers include Micron Technology, Samsung Electronics, SK hynix and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. Demand depends on their spending to expand factories, adopt new manufacturing technologies and support equipment already in use. Their investment plans change with demand for chips and the balance between industry supply and demand.
Most revenue comes from customer facilities outside the United States, with China an important market. U.S. export controls restrict sales of certain technologies to customers in China, and some transactions require licenses that may not be granted.
The risk section is the longest, dullest part of the filing. This keeps only what can really hurt you: where it hits, how hard, when it plays out.
Every company claims an edge. Each one is checked against hard numbers like margins and returns: which hold, and which line gives way first.
Lam’s results hinge on foundry and memory fabrication spending, including purchases by major customer Samsung Electronics, with Tokyo Electron an important rival in etch and cleaning equipment.
Applied Materials competes with Lam for chipmakers’ spending on equipment that adds material layers to wafers and removes selected material—deposition and etch. Watch its Semiconductor Systems business, where those equipment sales sit, rather than treating all its revenue as a read-through for Lam.
KLA and Lam both depend on chipmakers investing in fabs and more demanding manufacturing processes: KLA sells systems that check and control production, while Lam sells equipment that processes wafers. KLA’s Semiconductor Process Control revenue is the relevant line to watch for that shared demand.
ASML shares Lam’s exposure to fab investment, selling systems that print patterns on silicon to the chipmakers buying Lam’s deposition, etch and cleaning tools. Watch adoption of its TWINSCAN NXE:3800E EUV system by advanced logic and DRAM customers, especially DRAM, where adoption increased in 2025.
TSMC’s spending on fab equipment feeds Lam’s demand directly: it makes chips from customers’ designs and is one of Lam’s most significant customers. Watch its capacity and process investments, including the move into 2-nanometer volume production in 2025.
Micron’s equipment purchases matter directly to Lam because the DRAM and NAND maker is one of its most significant customers. Watch Micron’s manufacturing and capital-spending plans alongside demand from cloud and data-center customers for HBM, server DRAM and NAND.
SK hynix is a direct source of equipment demand for Lam, making DRAM, HBM and NAND for customers using memory in servers, PCs and mobile devices. As one of Lam’s most significant customers, its HBM production developments and customer qualification news are worth watching.
Ichor Holdings depends heavily on equipment makers such as Lam, selling subsystems that deliver and control process gases and chemicals inside their tools. Lam and Applied Materials together supplied 76% of Ichor’s fiscal 2025 sales, so its delivery-subsystem sales reflect demand from both, not Lam alone.
Ultra Clean depends substantially on Lam’s purchases of equipment subsystems, including gas and fluid delivery systems and process modules: Lam accounted for 37% of its revenue in the year ended December 26, 2025. Watch its Products business for changes in that equipment demand, rather than its separate cleaning and coating services.
ACM Research competes for the chipmakers’ equipment budgets that Lam serves, selling wafer-cleaning tools, systems that plate metal onto wafers, and plasma-assisted film-deposition equipment, or PECVD. Watch its wet-cleaning platforms for competitive developments in removing defects without damaging fine wafer structures.
Lam uses MKS’s vacuum, gas-control and power technologies in the semiconductor-processing equipment it sells to chipmakers, making MKS a supplier to its tool-building business.
Lam uses Advanced Energy’s precision power systems to drive plasma processes in the semiconductor equipment it sells to chipmakers, making Advanced Energy a supplier to those tools.
Nova Ltd. shares Lam’s exposure to advanced fab investment and tighter process control, selling chipmakers systems that measure the dimensions, films and materials produced in processes using Lam’s deposition and etch tools. Watch demand for its thin-film and materials measurement platforms as manufacturing becomes more complex.
Entegris and Lam serve the same wafer-processing demand: Entegris sells chipmakers materials and purity solutions, while Lam supplies the equipment for deposition, etch and cleaning. Watch Entegris’s deposition materials and etch and cleaning chemicals for demand tied to those manufacturing steps.
Onto Innovation Inc. shares Lam’s exposure to fab investment and tighter manufacturing tolerances, selling chipmakers tools that measure and inspect wafer structures made with equipment such as Lam’s. Watch its thin-film and critical-dimension measurement tools for demand linked to more exacting production.
Axcelis Technologies Inc. depends on the same chipmakers’ equipment spending as Lam, selling ion implantation systems while those customers also buy Lam’s deposition and etch tools. Its ion implantation business, which generated 98.2% of 2025 revenue, is the clearest line to watch for that shared spending cycle.
Veeco shares Lam’s exposure to logic and memory fabs’ equipment investment, selling systems for wafer-processing steps including deposition, etching and cleaning. Watch Veeco’s Semiconductor market rather than its total sales, which also include compound semiconductors, data storage and research applications.
Lam Research Corp earningsThis company
Lam Research sells new wafer-fabrication equipment and earns support revenue from parts, upgrades and services, so its report will show whether both new-tool spending and demand from its installed base are supporting the business.
Read systems revenue alongside customer support-related revenue, then check the foundry and memory shares of equipment and upgrade revenue against gross margin. If both revenue streams hold up, the customer mix supports margins and demand is broad; if systems weaken while support revenue carries the business, or costs squeeze gross margin, growth is narrower and profitability is under pressure.
Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc. earningsUCTT
Ultra Clean’s Products business supplies equipment subsystems to Lam Research, so its report will show whether demand for those parts is keeping pace with Lam’s tool production.
Focus on Ultra Clean’s Products business, not its cleaning and coating services. Stronger product demand is consistent with demand for the gas and fluid delivery systems and process modules Lam needs to build tools; weaker product demand, even if other businesses support total revenue, points to softer demand for those parts, not a complete read on Lam’s orders.
SK hynix Inc. earningsSKHY
SK hynix buys wafer-fabrication equipment from Lam Research, and its report will show whether this important customer’s HBM production and equipment investment are sustaining demand for Lam’s tools.
Read SK hynix’s HBM production and customer-qualification progress alongside its equipment investment plans. If production and qualification advance and investment follows, this customer’s memory demand is translating into demand for Lam’s tools; if investment does not follow production progress, that progress alone does not show that Lam will receive more tool orders.
KLA Corporation earningsKLAC
KLA’s Semiconductor Process Control business serves chipmakers investing in the same fabs as Lam’s customers, so its report will show whether they are also buying systems to monitor and control production.
Watch KLA’s Semiconductor Process Control revenue, not its whole business as a proxy for Lam. If it strengthens, chipmakers are also buying systems to control more demanding production, consistent with strong demand for Lam’s tools; if it weakens, customers may be more cautious, but KLA sells different products, so this revenue alone cannot establish Lam’s orders or market share.
Applied Materials Inc earningsAMAT
Applied Materials’ Semiconductor Systems business includes deposition and etch tools that compete with Lam’s, so its report will show how demand is moving in the equipment market the two companies share.
Watch Applied Materials’ Semiconductor Systems business, not its total revenue. If it strengthens, chipmakers are still buying equipment that includes deposition and etch, but that does not show Lam won the orders; if it weakens, the relevant budget may be softer, or Applied Materials may simply have performed less well. Lam’s own systems revenue is needed to tell what the change means for its business.
