LAM Research chief executive Tim Archer said on Wednesday (Feb 19) that the thirst for complex artificial intelligence (AI) silicon will push the likes of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) to purchase more of the US company’s tools over the next three years.
The remarks were part of the first analyst day Lam Research has hosted in five years. At the two-and-a-half-hour presentation in New York, executives discussed two new chipmaking tools in technical detail, gave a market overview and issued a financial forecast through 2028.
“(Artificial intelligence) is probably the biggest fundamental technology revolution of our lifetimes,” Archer said. Investors sent Lam shares up about 1 per cent on Wednesday. The Fremont, California-based Lam is one of three US chip equipment makers that produce tools that TSMC use to make the world’s most advanced AI and other processors.
The business has suffered in recent years as memory prices and supply gluts pushed a slowdown in capital spending among companies such as Micron in the US During the presentation, finance chief Douglas Bettinger said Lam expects revenue of between US$25 billion and US$28 billion in 2028, compared with US$16.2 billion in 2024. Adjusted 2028 earnings will reach US$6 to US$7 a share, compared with a per-share profit of US$3.36 last year.
“The chipmakers depend on companies such as Lam to keep them on their roadmap,” Archer said.
Two new tools
The company also announced two new chip making tools, one focused on depositing material on silicon wafers. The new tool replaces tungsten with an element called molybdenum, which is used to place material and create the tiny features of chips.
The shift to molybdenum, or moly, marks a significant change as the industry had been using tungsten for roughly 30 years prior, Archer said. The company began working on the new technology roughly seven years ago in conjunction with the customers that will deploy it.
The second tool is designed to remove material from wafers, a process called etching. When moving to two nanometres and below, Archer said the increased accuracy of the new tool is necessary to help draw the atomic-sized features needed.
“To people in the industry, they would recognise that as a true breakthrough, given that it is something that had not been accomplished before,” Archer said, referring to the new etching tool. REUTERS
