New York, Feb 23, 2026, 12:47 PM EST — Regular session
- Lam Research dropped roughly 2.5% around midday, lagging the wider chip sector.
- Fresh concerns over U.S. tariffs dragged tech stocks lower, pulling the broader market down with them.
- Wall Street is eyeing Nvidia’s results this week, along with Washington’s next trade decisions, for clues about AI-related spending trends.
Lam Research Corp (LRCX.O) dropped 2.5% to $238.83 by midday Monday, having started higher at $249.29 before slipping to a session low of $238.35. Shares of Applied Materials (AMAT.O) and KLA Corp (KLAC.O) also traded in the red, with semiconductor ETFs tracking the broader market’s decline.
Wall Street’s tech sector retreated, pressured by fresh tariff worries after President Donald Trump hit with a new 15% duty, a move that followed the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn most of his earlier tariffs. “The market is just experiencing some profit-taking as traders realize that the relief rally from Friday may be premature,” said Thomas Hayes, chairman at Great Hill Capital LLC. 1
Why it matters for Lam at this moment: the company’s bread and butter is wafer fabrication equipment, those pricey machines essential for semiconductor manufacturing. Its fortunes follow right alongside customer capex budgets. Fast-moving trade policy changes? That throws a wrench into chipmakers’ planning—affecting what they buy, where factories go up, and the pace of spending.
Lam’s swing stood out from the broader chip ETFs—a sign that equipment stocks often behave more like a leveraged play on future spending than a reflection of current chip sales. With global customers and supply lines, the group lands squarely in the crosshairs whenever a trade battle heats up.
Investors have been watching for confirmation that hefty AI spending is driving consistent demand throughout the chip stack, beyond just a few marquee names. This week’s big tech earnings, with Nvidia in the spotlight, are shaping up as a key gauge for risk appetite across the market.
When it comes to Lam, traders zero in on two things: order momentum—bookings—and what management says about wafer-fab spending, with particular attention to memory and advanced logic. Those cues usually move the stock more than daily chip price fluctuations.
The stock faces a real risk: sudden policy jolts often outpace any response from manufacturing. Lam has pointed to tariffs, export controls, and trade limits as possible hurdles, not to mention supply-chain expenses and wide demand swings. 2
Lam notes that Chief Financial Officer Doug Bettinger will be appearing at the Morgan Stanley TMT Conference on March 3, followed by the Cantor Global Technology & Industrial Growth Conference on March 11. Both events will offer webcasts. The next dividend is scheduled for April 8, payable to shareholders recorded as of March 4. 3
