Lam Research Corporation · LRCX · FY2026 Q3 · Calendar Q2 2026

Lam Research Q3 FY2026: Record Revenue and EPS Beat on AI-Driven Chip Demand

Lam Research delivered record Q3 FY2026 results with $5.84B revenue and $1.47 EPS, both exceeding guidance and consensus estimates. AI-driven demand for higher-layer NAND, 1C DRAM, and advanced packaging is the primary growth engine, pushing Lam's served available market share to the mid-30% range of a wafer-fab-equipment market now estimated at $140 billion with an upside bias. Gross margin guidance stepped up to 50.5% from the prior quarter's approximately 49%, and the Customer Support Business Group crossed $2 billion in a single quarter for the first time. The stock initially sold off 2.2% on the report but has since drifted plus 16.9%, suggesting the market progressively validated the growth narrative. The central question for investors is whether AI-driven memory and logic capex can sustain this trajectory into 2027, particularly given clean-room constraints and declining…

Reported April 22, 2026After market closeNASDAQTechnology $364.68B market cap

100quality score

Company context

Snapshot as of publication

Lam Research Corporation is a prominent supplier of equipment vital for semiconductor processing, encompassing its design, production, sales, repair, and ongoing maintenance. These sophisticated systems are fundamental for the creation of integrated circuits. The company's extensive product catalog features a variety of deposition technologies. For tungsten metallization, they provide ALTUS systems that deposit conformal films. SABRE products excel in electrochemical deposition, crucial for copper interconnect transitions and enabling copper damascene manufacturing. SOLA utilizes ultraviolet thermal processing for film treatments, while VECTOR delivers plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and atomic layer deposition (ALD) solutions. Furthermore, SPEED addresses gapfill applications with its high-density plasma CVD products, and Striker is engineered for single-wafer atomic layer deposition of dielectric films.…

Earnings scorecard

Reported versus consensus

Reported EPS $1.47 Consensus $1

EPS surprise +8.1% Reported versus consensus

Reported revenue $5.84B Consensus $5.75B

Revenue surprise +1.6% Reported versus consensus

Market reaction

event-close to next-session close

Stock move -2.6% Event window

SPY move -0.4% Same window

Abnormal move -2.2% Stock minus SPY

Volume 1.4× Versus trailing sessions

Subsequent drift +16.9% Up to 20 sessions

LRCXSPY benchmark

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Transcript intelligence

What changed

Compared to the prior quarter (FY2026 Q2): Quarterly revenue set a new record at $5.84B, a 24% year-over-year increase, surpassing the top end of prior guidance. Gross margin guidance improved from approximately 49% to 50.5%. The Customer Support Business Group posted its first $2 billion-plus quarter. Advanced packaging growth guidance was raised from over 40% to over 50% for 2026. Lam raised its WFE market estimate to $140 billion with an upside bias. A next-generation Dextro cobot was announced with 10x compute power in a smaller footprint, with the first deposition-product shipment scheduled. Capital returns accelerated, with $800M in buybacks, $750M in debt retirement, and $326M in dividends, totaling 139% of free cash flow returned to shareholders.

Guidance delta

Management maintained June-quarter guidance of $6.6 billion plus or minus $400 million in revenue and 50.5% plus or minus 1 percentage point gross margin. This represents a step up from the prior quarter's March guidance of $5.7 billion plus or minus $300 million and approximately 49% gross margin. Guidance sentiment was maintained, reflecting confidence in continued AI-driven demand. Capex is expected to remain at 4-5% of revenue to fund growth initiatives.

Key takeaways

Record Q3 FY2026 revenue of $5.84B and EPS of $1.47, beating consensus estimates of $5.75B and $1.36.
June-quarter guidance of $6.6B plus or minus $400M revenue and 50.5% gross margin, up from the prior quarter's $5.7B and approximately 49%.
AI-driven demand is accelerating NAND layer-count upgrades and 1C DRAM adoption, expanding Lam's SAM to the mid-30% range of WFE.
Customer Support Business Group generated $2.1B, its first $2B-plus quarter, driven by spares, upgrades, and services.
WFE market estimate raised to $140B for 2026 with an upside bias.
Capital returns totaled 139% of free cash flow: $800M buybacks, $750M debt retirement, $326M dividends.

Management priorities

Commissioning a second manufacturing facility in Malaysia in the second half of 2026.
Shipping the first next-generation Dextro cobot for deposition tools.
Expanding Equipment Intelligence services to additional foundry and memory customers.
Increasing R&D spend to support high-aspect-ratio etch, ALD, and advanced packaging tools.
Maintaining capex at 4-5% of revenue to fund growth initiatives.

Risks

Potential slowdown in memory cycles and reliance on customer down-payments, which are at a 4-year low.
High industry utilization limits further sequential growth in spares and services.
Inventory and supply-chain management challenges amid rapid demand acceleration.
Declining installed wafer capacity (down approximately 20% YoY) could pressure future growth.
Uncertainty around large new fab projects and clean-room availability.

Analyst concerns

Decomposition of the 50.5% gross-margin guidance and underlying mix effects.
Capacity constraints and lead-time pressures for new tool orders.
Sustainability of CSBG services growth amid already-high industry utilization.
Impact of falling customer down-payments (at a 4-year low) on cash flow.
Visibility and timing of 2027 WFE growth and large fab project commitments.

Editorial confidence: high

Related earnings events

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Sources

Earnings call transcript and parsed analysis · 2026-05-11T10:29:34.698584+00:00
FN2 earnings calendar · 2026-07-26T00:37:12.209961+00:00
Polygon adjusted daily market bars · 2026-07-28T08:52:39.189011+00:00
Financial Modeling Prep analyst price-target consensus and quote snapshot · 2026-07-28T08:52:39.186658+00:00

Methodology

Reported and consensus figures come from FN2's earnings event records. Market reaction and volume are calculated from daily adjusted bars around the event; abnormal move subtracts the SPY move over the same window.

Transcript intelligence is a structured synthesis of the current and prior earnings-call analyses. Missing values stay missing and are never estimated.

By FN2 Research · Updated July 28, 2026. For educational purposes only; not investment advice.