3.2.1 Basic data of Lam Research Co (www.lamrc.com) Corporate Snapshot
• Founded in 1980
• Corporate offices in Fremont, CA, USA
• Approximately 2,250 employees worldwide
• 39 regional offices located in the United States, Europe, Japan, and Asia Pacific
Lam Research Corporation is a major supplier of wafer fabrication equipment and services to the world's semiconductor industry. The Company's innovative etch technologies empower customers to build the world's highest-performing integrated circuits. Lam's etch systems shape the microscopic conductive and dielectric layers into circuits that define a chip's final use and function. The Company also offers a next-generation wafer cleaning solution, which employs proprietary technology and can be used throughout the semiconductor manufacturing process. Headquartered in
Fremont, California, Lam maintains a network of facilities throughout the United States, Asia, and Europe to meet the complex and changing needs of its global customer base.
Lam is both the market share and technology leader for etch semiconductor processing equipment. Over the years, Lam has consistently provided innovative technologies to address the challenges of semiconductor manufacturing. The significance of several of these industry firsts has helped shape technology trends in the industry.
These innovations include:
z Being first to commercialize an inductively coupled plasma source technology with a planar coil
z Introducing Dual Frequency Confined™ (DFC™) technology for dielectric etch Developing the first 200/300 mm capable etch product line with a 200 mm comparable footprint
z Enhancing advanced process control (APC) capability in anticipation of future 300 mm requirements
z Decoupling of plasma density and bias power for conductor etch
z Providing unique technologies to control parameters that impact critical dimension (CD) uniformity
z Introducing an in situ clean strategy performed after each wafer is processed
As part of Lam's mission to provide innovative productivity solutions in etch, the Company's scientists and engineers strive to be first to introduce new capabilities to ensure customer competitiveness. Lam's core technologies include TCP high-density source technology for conductor (metal and silicon) etch and DFC medium-density
plasma source technology for dielectric etch processes.
Lam's systems employ these technologies to provide advanced solutions for the conductor and dielectric etch processes in the manufacture of integrated circuits.
Lam's innovative technologies position the Company to continue gaining market share in the emerging growth markets including back-end copper/low k interconnect processes and front-end gate processes involving new materials and approaches.
Below are the awards and rankings:
z Forbes Best Managed Companies in America list z Business Ethics 100 Best Corporate Citizens list
z The Business Journal Top 25 Largest Semiconductor Equipment Manufacturers list
z Silicon Valley 150 list
z Semiconductor International Editor’s Choice Best Product Awards for 2300 Exelan and 2300 Versys
z San Jose Magazine 50 Best Places to Work list
Financial Snapshots are listed as the following:
• Initial public offering in 1984
• Common stock trades on the NASDAQ National Market® under the symbol LRCX
• Member of the NASDAQ-100® Index and S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index
3.2.2 Core competency of Lam Research Co
The core competencies of Lam are Technology Innovation and Efficient customer support network.
Throughout its history, Lam has been the technology innovator in the semiconductor etch marketplace. It has consistently delivered technology breakthroughs that have advanced the state of the art for semiconductor etch and enabled leading semiconductor manufacturers to meet their technology roadmap goals.
Customers are many of the world’s leading semiconductor manufacturers, including logic and memory producers as well as foundries. Due to changing manufacturing requirements, the selection of next-generation process equipment is a critical component of their future success. By addressing these challenges, Lam’s differentiated products and services continue to drive market share gains. Besides that, its ValuePoint™ Optimized Productivity Services™ portfolio is designed to optimize customers’ equipment sets and support services as needs change throughout their product cycles.
3.2.3 Competitive Strategy
New technology for process equipment can take 2-3 years to develop into a production-worthy system. Therefore, suppliers need to know customer requirements 3 years in advance. However, neither customers nor industry technology roadmaps can definitively identify requirements that far into the future. Consequently, these uncertainties can significantly add to equipment development costs, and strategies are needed to enable providing cost-effective equipment to semiconductor manufacturers now challenged by increasing costs and lower revenues. At Lam, three key strategies are employed to ensure providing timely, cost-effective solutions:
1. Consistent investment in technology development
Investment in research is based on development needs rather than a percent of revenue. At any given time, technology is in development at several stages -current technology transitioning to volume manufacturing, near-term technology in pilot lines, and next-generation technology at the R&D stage. In addition, product roadmaps with parallel development paths are maintained -based on a range of known viable options with the flexibility to implement new technologies that may emerge. This approach ensures a range of potential solutions to address a variety of customer requirements.
2. Pursuit of joint development relationships.
Relationships with leading-edge customers, supplier alliances, and consortia activities are actively pursued and developed to identify technology needs and define the focus. These activities ensure the right solutions are ready when customers need them.
3. Leveraging the Company's technology expertise
Lam leverages its core expertise in etch and cleaning to develop new technologies.
Company engineers also evaluate related new technologies designed by other companies that can be developed into products quickly and at lower costs. Staying focused on the Company's technology expertise allows Lam to seize emerging opportunities quickly and provide cost-effective product solutions.
Lam has implemented a highly successful business model, with resources focused on core competencies-technology development and customer support. Recent Company achievements include:
• Higher cycle-to-cycle profitability with higher gross margins during periods of strong market share growth.
• Significantly improved cash generation, including strong free cash flow and a higher level of retained earnings.
• A stable employment environment in a cyclical industry, enhancing the ability to attract and retain world-class engineering talent
• An environment dedicated to building on core competencies, leading to:
- Executive management focused on strategic planning - More expedient new product development
- Improved customer support
- Enhanced competitive differentiation
3.3 Introduction to Applied Materials