SK Hynix 2030 Memory Shortage Forecast Drives Lam Research Up 5% in Third Straight Day of Chip Equipment Gains

Lam Research shares jumped roughly 5% on Wednesday, leading a broad rally in chip equipment stocks after SK Hynix forecast that a global memory shortage will persist through 2030. The South Korean chipmaker reported a record quarter with revenue surging 328% year over year to approximately $78.7 billion and operating profit soaring 632% to about $62.7 billion, delivering an 80% operating margin. SK Hynix noted that more than 50% of its 2027-2028 capacity is already committed under long-term agreements, and it attributed the sustained shortage to AI-driven demand expanding well beyond cloud providers into enterprises, robotics and autonomous vehicles.

The forecast translates directly into equipment spending for companies like Lam Research, Applied Materials and KLA, which supply the machinery used to build new memory fabs. Applied Materials gained approximately 4% and KLA rose around 3%, extending a third consecutive session of gains across semiconductor equipment names. Micron also climbed about 4.6%, reflecting the same demand signal. ASML, which has less direct exposure to memory capacity expansion, gained just 1%.

Lam Research's CFO Doug Bettinger disclosed that the company's $8.6 billion December-quarter revenue guidance would have been higher were it not for near-term supply chain constraints, a comment that underscored the strength of underlying demand. Separately, Zacks noted that Lam Research trades at a price-to-earnings growth ratio below 1.0, flagging it alongside Teradyne and ATI as names with projected earnings gains and still-reasonable valuations. The stock and its peers were also identified as significant market-cap movers on Wednesday.