Applied Materials, ASML, Lam Hit Record Highs, Lead Chip Gear Stocks Rally - Investor's Business Daily

The semiconductor industry has experienced a notable rally, with key equipment suppliers including Applied Materials, ASML, and Lam Research leading the charge, as their stocks reached new highs. This... Read original →

The record highs of Applied Materials, ASML, and Lam Research reflect capital markets pricing in an AI-driven foundry arms race. ASML’s EUV monopoly acts as the sole gatekeeper to sub-3nm nodes, while Applied Materials and Lam accelerate High-NA EUV adoption through breakthroughs in atomic-layer deposition and etch precision. This triggers a cascading upgrade across EDA, photomasks, and advanced packaging. Geopolitically, U.S. export controls have extended global equipment lead times by 15–20%, forcing TSMC and Samsung to accept premium pricing for overseas fabs—boosting equipment vendors’ bargaining power. Yet, if Taiwan, China or Korean foundries trim capex due to compliance costs, regional order volatility looms. Tokyo Electron, strong in track lithography but locked out of EUV cores, can only counter via deeper IMEC collaboration. Over the next 18 months, the sector enters a ‘high-barrier, high-concentration, high-pricing-power’ phase: even if consumer chip demand softens, AI/HPC-driven advanced-node investments will sustain equipment revenue resilience.