LRCX is a strong buy; dual exposure to AI logic/memory, high-margin services, and high switching costs create a durable moat.

Okay , I want to talk about Lam Research, whose ticker symbol is LRCX. It's probably not a name familiar to everyone. But it's probably a company you know if you're familiar with the field that Jose and I are talking about today.

If you don't know, Lam Research mainly manufactures chip manufacturing equipment. Any drilling tools that chip manufacturers need to build memory chips, plus advanced logic and packaging.

And when we talk in other videos about companies like Samsung, SK Hynix, or Micron, and that race to win in the memory industry, all these companies need Lam tools to scale.

Lam Research's revenues are somewhat divided into two categories. They have systems revenue, which is the expensive equipment I was talking about, and then they have a customer support business.

This includes spare parts, upgrades, and services related to the thousands of devices already installed in factories around the world.

That customer support group recently recorded its first-ever revenue of $2 billion, which is recurring revenue from the proven base. Therefore, once the plant builds its operations around LAM's drilling and sedimentation tools , it continues to purchase spare parts and upgrades from LAM for years.

Lam sells its products to almost all the major memory and chip manufacturers in the world . As you know, I have mentioned some of them. There are also companies like TSMC and Intel.

As you know, chip manufacturers don't simply switch equipment suppliers. Therefore, conversion costs represent a real competitive advantage for this business. We are talking about competitive advantages. This is definitely one of them .

We will talk a little about geographical focus. Customer focus is a concern, and that's what Jose and I have been discussing with Broadcom. For Lam Research, most of its revenue comes from clients in Korea, Taiwan, China and Japan.

The reason for this is that most of the world's advanced chip manufacturing plants are concentrated there. This clearly opens up significant opportunities for growth, but it also exposes the company to the risks of trade policies and export controls, which is something to be noted.

They announced their earnings for the 2026 fiscal year at the end of July. In just the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2026, they recorded revenues of approximately $7 billion, a 15% year-over-year increase.

Their revenue for the entire year grew by 26% to reach $23 billion. This is also a very profitable company . They saw nearly 40% growth in net profit at the end of that year. In terms of the source of this growth, it is divided almost equally between foundry customers and memory customers, at 44% and 46% respectively. It's a really interesting piece of work.

One comment that caught my attention from management on the earnings call: CEO Tim Archer described the situation as an exceptional setup for chip-manufacturing equipment growth, to borrow his exact phrase for heading into 2027, with customers signaling unprecedented long-term demand.

He even raised his industry-wide spending forecast for chip manufacturing equipment for 2026 to $140 billion.

This is also a company that distributes cash dividends. They recently increased their dividend payouts by about 30%. They regularly return billions of dollars to shareholders. So, if you want to think about Lam Research in a few concise sentences to summarize everything, right?

This is a company that sells the machines needed for the artificial intelligence revolution. Thus, regardless of which AI chip company or memory manufacturer wins, Lam Research remains a beneficiary.

So , it's an interesting company to talk about , and one we haven't mentioned much in recent episodes, so we wanted to mention it in today's episode.

Yes, equipment manufacturing companies are great. The other thing about "Lam Research," as you mentioned, Rachel, is that it's not limited to TSMC only , is it? We are seeing huge demand for AI computing , but within this demand, there is also huge demand for memory .

So, you have a kind of double-edged effect occurring. If TSMC increases its capital expenditure, that's great, because they will be buying more " Lam Research". While we continue to face this memory shortage, which we may discuss in another episode, there are also memory companies like Micron and SK Hynix, which you mentioned, continuing to invest in more and more equipment.

As long as the demand for AI computing and AI chips continues to rise, I think we'll see some really good numbers.

And that's the other side of the story , isn't it? When this cycle ends, equipment manufacturers tend to feel the pain more than others. As an optimist in the semiconductor sector, I don't expect this to happen this year or next year , but obviously I could be wrong.

The other thing I want followers to pay attention to is what Rachel mentioned regarding service revenues. This equipment is expensive, and they perform software updates and periodic maintenance updates, which are charged on an annual or contractual basis, and tend to have very high profit margins.

So, while they're selling this equipment, and I think they currently have a good amount of power, they can say, "Oh, if you want this machine, make sure you sign up to this maintenance program for X years as well."

Unfortunately, as we saw with Lam Research, and as we saw with Broadcom, only a limited number of customers need and purchase the products offered by Credo and all these semiconductor companies.

Many, but not all, of them are profitable and well-protected companies that are driving this demand, and they are the ones buying this capacity from companies like Credo, Broadcom and Lam.

This creates a dynamic where there is a concentration of customers, but these are also the big players in the field. So, this is something I think you should be comfortable with if you're putting money into these types of businesses.