NEW YORK, December 29, 2025, 11:33 ET — Regular session
- Lam Research down about 1% in late morning trade; chip sector also lower
- Peers Applied Materials, KLA and ASML drift down as tech shares soften
- Investors watch Fed minutes, Taiwan quake updates and Lam’s next earnings window
Lam Research Corp shares fell about 1% on Monday as chip-related stocks eased in year-end trading.
The pullback matters now because Lam has just closed its December quarter, setting up the next test of whether demand for chipmaking tools holds up into 2026.
Broader risk appetite stayed fragile. The Nasdaq-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust was down about 0.7% late morning, and Nvidia slid nearly 2%.
Lam was down 1% at $176.34 by 11:33 a.m. ET, after closing at $178.07 on Friday.
The iShares Semiconductor ETF fell 0.8%, and equipment peers moved the same way, with Applied Materials down 0.1%, KLA off 0.8% and ASML down 0.4%.
Reuters said Wall Street’s main indexes opened the final week of the year lower, with minutes from the Fed’s last meeting and jobless claims among the few scheduled U.S. data points this week.
“If stocks are going to close out another year of double-digit gains on a high note, they’ll likely need tech to do much of the heavy lifting,” Chris Larkin, managing director of trading and investing at E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley, said. Reuters
In the chip supply chain, traders also tracked developments in Taiwan after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake over the weekend. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co said a small number of facilities met evacuation criteria, but its safety systems remained operational.
Any disruption at major foundries can ripple through capital spending plans that drive orders for wafer fab equipment — the specialized tools used to build chips.
Lam, based in Fremont, California, is a key supplier of etch and deposition systems that carve patterns and lay down thin films on silicon wafers.
In October, Lam forecast December-quarter revenue of about $5.20 billion, plus or minus $300 million, and adjusted profit of $1.15 per share, plus or minus 10 cents.
Investors are likely to focus on whether the company hit that range and, more importantly, what management says about customer spending in memory and advanced logic tied to AI workloads.
Nasdaq’s earnings calendar currently estimates Lam will report around Feb. 4, though companies can confirm a different date later.
Beyond earnings, the next major U.S. catalysts include the government’s December employment report on Jan. 9 and the Fed’s Jan. 27-28 policy meeting, both key for rate-sensitive growth stocks.
