AI Semiconductor Equipment Rally Stalls…Lam Research Loses 28 Trillion Won in a Day

On February 4 (local time), shares of U.S. semiconductor‐equipment maker Lam Research Corp. (NASDAQ: LRCX) plunged 8.82% to close at $209.75 on the Nasdaq. The company’s market capitalization fell to about $261.9 billion (roughly 340 trillion KRW), erasing some $21.2 billion (around 28 trillion KRW) in value in a single day. Trading volume topped 11.8 million shares as funds rotated out of growth names into value and small-cap stocks. The sell‐off reflected renewed pressure on tech and semiconductor stocks following AMD’s guidance shock.

The day before, Lam Research announced leadership changes to accelerate its growth in the AI era, promoting Sesha Varadarajan to chief operating officer and expanding Karthik Rammohan’s role as senior vice president of global operations and enterprise solutions. More recently, the company added Cadence CEO Anirudh Devgan to its board and broadened R&D collaboration with France’s CEA-Leti. Analysts at Argus and B. Riley have since raised their 12-month price targets to $280 and $310, respectively, citing positive medium- to long-term prospects.

Headquartered in Fremont, California, Lam Research specializes in wafer etch and deposition equipment that is essential to advanced logic and 3D NAND processes—equipment the company says is used in “virtually every leading‐edge chip.” Driven by expanded AI and high-performance computing investments from major customers such as TSMC and Samsung Electronics, Lam’s stock has delivered triple‐digit gains over the past year, marking it as a prominent beneficiary of the current AI semiconductor investment cycle.