New York, Feb 18, 2026, 18:55 (ET) — After-hours
- Lam Research shares rose 1.9% in regular trading to $240.09 and were little changed after the bell
- Company outlined a new Boise office to support work alongside Micron on leading-edge memory
- Investors next watch Lam’s March 3 and March 11 conference appearances for demand and outlook signals
Lam Research Corporation shares rose 1.9% to $240.09 on Wednesday and were little changed in after-hours trade. The chipmaking-tools maker traded between $234.10 and $245.19 during the session.
The stock is back in play as investors try to pin down how hard chipmakers will spend on new factory gear tied to AI servers and tighter memory supply. Lam sells the etch and deposition tools — machines that carve and coat silicon wafers — that sit near the front of that spending cycle.
A day earlier, Lam said it opened a new office in Boise, Idaho, that will initially support about 150 employees from the area. The 9,200-square-foot site will focus on collaborative research, development and high-volume manufacturing tied to Micron Technology’s leading-edge memory, Lam said. (Lam Research Investor Relations)
“Lam’s expansion in Idaho provides critical infrastructure near one of our largest customers and enables us to accelerate our operations,” Neil Fernandes, Lam’s senior vice president of Global Customer Operations, said in the announcement. Micron’s John Whitman said Lam’s tools installed in Micron fabs help produce high-performance, high-capacity memory chips “with extraordinary precision at the atomic scale.” (PR Newswire)
U.S. Senator Jim Risch, who attended the Boise event, called a strong supply of American-made semiconductors “critical” for the economy and national security, and said the new office would support jobs and investment in the region. (Lam Research Newsroom)
Lam’s move came on a broadly positive day for U.S. stocks. The S&P 500 rose 0.56% and the Dow gained 0.26%, while Applied Materials climbed 2.83%, according to MarketWatch data. (MarketWatch)
Lam also said its finance chief, Doug Bettinger, will present at the Morgan Stanley TMT Conference on March 3 and the Cantor Global Technology & Industrial Growth Conference on March 11, with webcasts available to the public. (Lam Research Investor Relations)
Those conference slots are the next near-term check-in for investors looking for fresh detail on 2026 demand and the pace of customer ramps — especially in high-bandwidth memory, a fast-growing type of memory used in AI accelerators.
But the setup cuts both ways. A pause in memory spending, delays in big customer buildouts, or tighter trade rules could hit tool orders quickly, while rivals such as Applied Materials and Tokyo Electron keep pressing for share.
Next up: Bettinger’s appearance at Morgan Stanley’s conference on March 3, followed by Cantor on March 11 — the next two dates traders will circle for any change in tone on demand, margins, and customer budgets.
