We design, manufacture, market, refurbish, and service semiconductor processing
equipment used in the fabrication of integrated circuits. Semiconductor wafers
are subjected to a complex series of process and preparation steps that result
in the simultaneous creation of many individual integrated circuits. Our products
are used by every major semiconductor device manufacturer for their leading
edge devices.
Lam has enhanced its role as a leading supplier of wafer fabrication equipment
and services to the worldwide semiconductor industry. In addition, Lam is better
positioned to serve our customer base by leveraging our technical expertise
across a broader portfolio of product to address the increasingly complex business
of manufacturing integrated circuits. Lam Research has been a leading supplier
of wafer fabrication equipment and services for more than thirty years by contributing
to the advancement of semiconductor manufacturing processes that have led to
the proliferation of a variety of electronic products that impact our everyday
lives, including cell phones, computers, memory, and networking equipment. The
Company’s customer base includes leading semiconductor memory, foundry,
and integrated device manufacturers (“IDMs”) that make integrated
circuits for these products such as DRAM, NAND, and logic devices.
Our Customer Support Business Group (“CSBG”) provides products
and services to maximize installed equipment performance and operational efficiency.
We offer a broad range of services to deliver value throughout the lifecycle
of our equipment, including customer service, spares, upgrades, refurbishment
of our etch, deposition, photoresist strip, and clean products. While most semiconductor
device manufacturers have transitioned to 300 mm wafer technology, there are
still many who utilize 200 mm technology, requiring prior-generation equipment.
To address this market and to meet customers’ needs for high-performance,
low-risk equipment, our Reliant™ Systems Business offers a suite of new
and refurbished Lam legacy equipment.
With the acquisition of Novellus, we entered into the business of developing,
manufacturing, selling and supporting equipment used in grinding, lapping and
polishing precision parts used in a broad spectrum of industrial applications.
Our primary subsidiary in this area, Peter Wolters, is a leader in the design
and manufacturing of high precision grinding, lapping, polishing, and deburring
systems used to achieve a highly precise or smooth surface on a finished material.
Peter Wolters’ products are used in the semiconductor and LED manufacturing
industries, as well as in the automotive, aerospace, medical, and green energy
industries.
Lam’s subsidiary, Silfex, is a leading provider of high purity custom
silicon components and assemblies that serve high technology markets including
the solar, optics, and semiconductor equipment markets. In addition to its silicon
growing and fabrication services, Silfex also provides full vertical integration
through the development of bonding, precision cleaning and clean room manufacturing
necessary in the fabrication of critical components used by its customers.
Customers
Our customers include many of the world’s leading semiconductor manufacturers.
Customers continue to establish joint ventures, alliances and licensing arrangements
which have the potential to positively or negatively impact our competitive
position and market opportunities.
Competition
The semiconductor capital equipment industry is characterized by rapid change
and is highly competitive throughout the world. To compete effectively, we invest
significant financial resources to continue to strengthen and enhance our product
and services portfolio and to maintain customer service and support locations
globally. Semiconductor manufacturers evaluate capital equipment suppliers in
many areas, including, but not limited to, process performance, productivity,
customer support, defect control, and overall cost of ownership, which can be
affected by many factors such as equipment design, reliability, software advancements,
and similar factors. Our ability to succeed in the marketplace depends upon
our ability to maintain existing products and introduce product enhancements
and new products that meet customer requirements on a timely basis. In addition,
semiconductor manufacturers must make a substantial investment to qualify and
integrate new capital equipment into semiconductor production lines. As a result,
once a semiconductor manufacturer has selected a particular supplier’s
equipment and qualified it for production, the manufacturer generally maintains
that selection for that specific production application and technology node
as long as the supplier’s products demonstrate performance to specification
in the installed base. Accordingly, we may experience difficulty in selling
to a given customer if that customer has qualified a competitor’s equipment.
We must also continue to meet the expectations of our installed base of customers
through the delivery of high-quality and cost-efficient spare parts in the presence
of third-party spare parts provider competition.
We face significant competition with all of our products and services. Our primary
competitors in the etch market are Tokyo Electron, Ltd. and Applied Materials,
Inc. Our primary competitors in the single-wafer wet clean market are Dainippon
Screen Manufacturing Co. Ltd. and Tokyo Electron, Ltd. In the tungsten CVD,
PECVD, HDP-CVD, ECD and PVD markets, our primary competitor is Applied Materials,
Inc. In the PECVD market, we also compete against ASM International. Our primary
competitors in the surface preparation product arena are Mattson Technologies,
Inc. and PSK, Inc.
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