NEW YORK, December 31, 2025, 20:53 ET — Market closed
- Lam Research closed down 1.5% at $171.18 in the final U.S. session of 2025. 1
- U.S. stocks ended lower in holiday-thin trade, with markets shut Thursday for New Year’s Day. 2
- Focus turns to late-January earnings expectations, chip-spending signals and China export policy. 3
Lam Research Corp shares fell 1.5% to $171.18 on Wednesday, extending a three-session slide as the chip equipment maker closed out the final trading day of 2025. 1
The decline came as Wall Street finished the year with modest losses in thin holiday trading, with the S&P 500 down 0.74% and the Nasdaq off 0.76%, Reuters reported. 2
That matters now because Lam is a bellwether for wafer fabrication equipment — the costly chipmaking tools used to build semiconductors — and positioning into 2026 is being driven by expectations for customer capital spending and shifts in trade policy. 4
Lam’s volume was light at about 4.9 million shares, well below its 50-day average of roughly 10.9 million, MarketWatch data showed. 1
The stock ended about 4.8% below its 52-week high of $179.80 reached on Dec. 26, keeping that level in view as near-term resistance. 1
Peers also finished lower. Applied Materials fell 1.1% and KLA slid 2.3%, while ASML edged down about 0.3% in U.S. trading.
“I do not expect that the last few days will have so much bearing on the performance of the next year,” said Giuseppe Sette, co-founder and president of Reflexivity, pointing to profit-taking when liquidity is low. 2
Policy headlines remained part of the backdrop for the sector after Washington granted Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co an annual export license allowing it to import U.S.-made chipmaking equipment to its Nanjing plant in China, Reuters reported. 5
The broader pause will be brief: U.S. markets are closed Thursday for New Year’s Day, Reuters noted, and reopen Friday. 2
Before the next session, traders will be looking for direction from early-year positioning and any fresh signals on 2026 chip capacity spending, which tends to drive orders for Lam’s systems and services. 4
On the chart, support sits near Wednesday’s intraday low of $170.76, while resistance remains near $179.80 — a level the stock failed to reclaim into the close. 1
Lam has not confirmed an earnings date for its next quarterly report, but market calendars such as TipRanks and Investing.com list late-January timing. Investors will measure results against the company’s most recent outlook, when Lam projected December-quarter revenue of about $5.20 billion, plus or minus $300 million, and adjusted profit of about $1.15 per share, plus or minus 10 cents. 3
