New York, Jan 16, 2026, 19:16 EST — After-hours
KLA Corp shares climbed 1.4% to $1,567.82 on Friday, holding steady near that mark in after-hours trading. The uptick capped a strong week for U.S. chip equipment stocks. Applied Materials and Lam Research both gained roughly 2.5%.
The timing is key. Investors want to know if chipmakers are about to ramp up spending again, diving deeper into smaller, tougher-to-manufacture chips while expanding data center capacity.
This hits the “process control” segment — the inspection and measurement gear that detects defects and boosts yields — since the margin for error narrows as wafer features shrink.
Wells Fargo analyst Joseph Quatrochi raised KLA to overweight Thursday, setting a $1,600 price target. He highlighted growing demand for 2-nanometer chips expected in 2026. A Nasdaq report on his note also mentioned “increasing process control intensity at Intel” as a key factor. 1
The call came just as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co kicked off the earnings season with new figures and a capex outlook that grabbed traders’ attention. TSMC CFO Wendell Huang pointed to “strong demand for our leading-edge process technologies” as the driver, unveiling a 2026 capital budget ranging from $52 billion to $56 billion. 2
Politics around U.S. chip capacity have also provided a boost. A Reuters report on Friday revealed that the U.S. and Taiwan struck a trade deal, with Taiwanese companies committing $250 billion to ramp up semiconductor, energy, and AI production stateside. The report highlighted TSMC’s moves to grow its footprint in Arizona. 3
KLA investors are weighing if the upcoming node transition and AI-driven demand will accelerate spending or merely shuffle it around. The term “wafer fab equipment,” or WFE, refers to the tools chipmakers purchase to build and upgrade fabs, and historically, spending tends to come in waves.
There’s a downside risk here. If foundry or memory spending falters, or if 2-nanometer production ramps slower than anticipated, orders could drop sharply in this segment of the supply chain. The current valuation leaves little margin for a breather after the stock’s recent surge.
The next regular U.S. session won’t be Monday. NYSE markets shut down for Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Jan. 19, with trading picking back up Tuesday. That leaves a shorter timeframe for fresh moves. 4
KLAC’s next major event is its fiscal Q2 2026 earnings report, set for after the market closes on Thursday, Jan. 29. The company will host an earnings call at 2 p.m. PT. Investors will focus on guidance around advanced-node demand, customer spending trends, and any shifts in KLAC’s outlook for 2026. 5
