Pursuing applications materials and other peers, Lam Research Corporation (LRCX.US) splashes more than 1 billion US dollars in investment in India's semiconductor industry.

US semiconductor equipment giant Lam Research Group (LRCX.US) plans to invest over $1 billion in the Indian market in the coming years. This investment plan was announced during the "Invest Karnataka" event led by the Indian government. It is understood that this leading player in the semiconductor equipment sector has signed a Memorandum of Understanding for investment with the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board in India. The Indian government is actively promoting the rapid development of its semiconductor industry through a series of measures, including a major $10 billion incentive program. Lam Research's investment, following the earlier announcements of investments in India by semiconductor equipment giant Applied Materials and storage giant Micron Technology, Inc., is seen as the latest vote of "significant trust" in the Indian government's vision for the development of the semiconductor industry chain. Applied Materials and Micron have previously announced substantial support for the development of the semiconductor industry in India. Other important companies in the semiconductor industry are also actively leveraging government subsidies to make significant investments in the Indian semiconductor market to support the development of the local semiconductor industry chain. For example, NXP Semiconductors NV plans to invest $1 billion to double its research and development investment and employee scale in India. Before Lam Research announced its investment in the Indian semiconductor market, another US semiconductor equipment giant, Applied Materials (AMAT.US), had already established a presence in the Indian market. Applied Materials announced in 2023 that it would invest $400 million over the next four years to establish a new engineering center in India. Applied Materials currently operates six sites in India and closely collaborates with national institutions such as the Indian Institutes of Science and Technology. Storage giant Micron Technology, Inc. (MU.US) has begun construction of a $2.75 billion chip packaging and testing factory in Sannand, with 50% of the construction funding coming from the Indian central government, 20% from the state of Gujarat, and Micron investing approximately $825 million. Lam and Applied Materials are ubiquitous in chip factories around the world. Unlike ASML Holding NV ADR, which focuses solely on the lithography sector, the high-end equipment provided by Lam and Applied Materials plays a crucial role in almost every step of chip manufacturing, covering crucial processes such as atomic layer deposition (ALD), chemical vapor deposition (CVD), physical vapor deposition (PVD), rapid thermal processing (RTP), chemical mechanical polishing (CMP), wafer etching, ion implantation, and more. Global demand for AI chips remains robust, with this explosive demand expected to continue through 2026. As a result, chip manufacturers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Sponsored ADR, Samsung, and Intel Corporation are expanding capacity, while storage giants like SK Hynix and Micron are increasing HBM capacity, all of which require large-scale purchases of semiconductor equipment for chip manufacturing and advanced packaging. Furthermore, some core equipment needs upgrading. After all, AI chips have higher logic density, more complex circuit design, and higher power and precision requirements for equipment, which may lead to higher technical requirements in processes such as lithography, etching, thin film deposition, multilayer interconnection, and thermal management, necessitating customized semiconductor manufacturing and testing equipment to meet these requirements.