Analysts Raise Lam Research Price Targets as AI Drives Multi‑Year Demand for Chip Tools
Broker upgrades reflect a larger addressable market and stronger wafer‑fab‑equipment demand with the potential to sustain capital spending and reshape memory and packaging supply chains.
Overview
- Bank of America raised its price target on Lam to $480 and kept a Buy rating after updating its models and lifting its 2030 semiconductor market forecast to $2.7 trillion.
- Barclays analyst Tom O'Malley raised his target to $335 and said wafer‑fab‑equipment spending looks much stronger, projecting industry sales could top $200 billion in 2027.
- Citi and other brokerages also pushed up targets in mid‑June as they rolled forward WFE forecasts to reflect what they call a multi‑year boom in chip manufacturing investment driven by AI.
- Lam management expects advanced‑packaging revenue to grow more than 50% in 2026, and the stock has risen roughly 16% over the past month on stronger AI‑related memory and packaging demand.
- Analysts warn the upside is tempered by real limits on cleanroom capacity, stretched forward valuations, and possible export rules that could reduce access to China, with wafer‑fab‑equipment meaning the specialized etch, deposition and other tools used to make chips.