NEW YORK, Jan 2, 2026, 12:25 ET — Regular session
- Lam Research shares rose about 5% in midday trade, tracking a broad rebound in semiconductor equipment stocks.
- Citi added Lam to its Large Cap Recommended list for 2026, while an analyst upgrade helped lift sector bellwether ASML.
- Investors are also weighing China’s push for more domestically made chip tools, a potential headwind for foreign equipment makers.
Lam Research (LRCX) shares rose $8.31, or 4.9%, to $179.49 on Friday, outperforming the broader market in the first regular session of 2026.
The move matters now because chip-equipment stocks often trade as a direct read-through on how aggressively chipmakers plan to spend on new capacity. Those spending plans can swing quickly with demand for artificial intelligence hardware and memory chips.
Friday’s gains also reflect a risk-on tone at the start of the year after a choppy finish to 2025, with technology shares helping lift U.S. equities, Reuters reported.
Lam got an added tailwind after Citi updated its “Large Cap Recommended” list for 2026 and included Lam Research with a $190 price target, Business Insider reported on Dec. 31. Business Insider
In the broader chip gear group, ASML jumped 8.6% after Aletheia Capital upgraded the stock to “buy” from “sell” and doubled its price target to $1,500, according to an Investing.com report. Investing.com Canada
Other U.S.-listed chip toolmakers rose in sympathy. Applied Materials gained 3.6% and KLA added 3.3%, while the iShares Semiconductor ETF was up about 3.7% in midday trade.
Lam traded between $174.30 and $183.81 on the session, and the stock’s forward price-to-earnings multiple was about 28 times based on LSEG data.
Lam is a major supplier of wafer fabrication equipment — tools used to build chips on silicon wafers — including etch and deposition systems that help create the tiny structures inside modern semiconductors.
At the same time, investors have been digesting a Reuters report that China has been telling chipmakers seeking state approval for new capacity to show that at least 50% of their equipment will be domestically made. Reuters said the rule is not publicly documented and cited three people familiar with the matter.
The Reuters report said advanced etching tools — an area where Lam has been a major supplier — are being partially replaced in China by local equipment makers such as Naura and AMEC as Beijing pushes chip self-sufficiency.
Macro expectations are also in the mix. “The next Fed Chair is probably going to be much more dovish than Jerome Powell,” Dennis Dick, chief market strategist at Stock Trader Network, told Reuters, as investors look ahead to next week’s U.S. labor-market data. Reuters
For Lam, traders will be watching for the company’s next quarterly update and any commentary on demand trends across memory and logic customers, as well as the impact of China policy on tool orders. Lam’s investor relations calendar currently lists no upcoming events.
In the near term, Lam’s ability to hold above the $180 level after briefly trading through it is likely to be a key technical marker for momentum-focused investors heading into next week.
