Chip-making tools supplier Lam Research Corporation has reported fourth-quarter revenue of $3.21 billion, lower than $4.64 billion a year ago.
Lam Research has generated revenue contribution of 47 percent from Foundry, 27 percent from Memory, 26 percent from Logic, 18 percent from from NVM and 9 percent from DRAM.
Lam Research has generated revenue contribution of 26 percent from China, 24 percent from Korea, 20 percent from Taiwan, 10 percent from Japan, 8 percent from United States, 8 percent from Europe and 4 percent from Southeast Asia during April-June 2023.
Lam Research has reported gross margin of $1,458 million, or 45.5 percent of revenue, operating expenses of $604 million, operating income of 26.6 percent of revenue, and net income of $803 million for the June 2023 quarter.
Lam Research spent $78.7 million for capital expenditures.
Lam Research expects first-quarter revenue of $3.4 billion plus or minus $300 million, as semiconductor makers scramble to meet a surge in demand fueled by rising adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
Businesses across sectors have been racing to incorporate AI capabilities after OpenAI’s ChatGPT caught the attention of consumers and investors alike, benefiting companies like Lam that are essential to the chip supply chain.
Lam Chief Executive Tim Archer said AI was in its initial stages with more investments in factories and in the company’s tools as being critical over the next several years.
“Advanced AI servers have significantly higher leading-edge logic, memory and storage content versus traditional servers, and every incremental 1 percent penetration of AI servers and data centers is expected to drive $1 billion to $1.5 billion of additional (chip equipment) investment,” Tim Archer said on a conference call with analysts.
Lam, Applied Materials and ASML are among a few main suppliers of wafer fabrication equipment – sophisticated and expensive machinery used to make semiconductors.
For the rest of 2023, Archer said he expects the total market for chipmaking equipment to be roughly $70 billion. It could receive a boost from demand from domestic Chinese purchases of equipment and high-speed memory tools.
Chinese companies have shifted purchasing to equipment used for older logic and memory chips following U.S. export control restrictions from October of 2022, Tim Archer said.
The AI boom has also helped chipmakers cushion a post-pandemic downturn in demand for personal computers and smartphones.
