Exploring Semiconductor Resurgence: Lam Research’s (LRCX) Role in Advanced Chip Manufacturing

Exploring Semiconductor Resurgence: Lam Research’s (LRCX) Role in Advanced Chip Manufacturing

Wed, September 2, 2026 at 4:27 PM GMT+3 3 min read

• LRCX -0.49%

Sands Capital, an investment management company, released its "Sands Capital Select Growth Fund" Q2 2026 investor letter. The letter can be downloaded here. Select Growth Fund targets U.S. businesses driving significant structural change through disruptive innovation. The fund returned 23.2% in the quarter, outperforming the Russell 1000 Growth Index's 16.7%. U.S. large-cap growth equities rebounded sharply, driven by improving corporate fundamentals and renewed investor confidence in AI, despite geopolitical uncertainties. However, the market's gains were narrow, concentrated among AI beneficiaries. The portfolio's success stemmed from strength in AI infrastructure holdings, especially memory and storage, supported by better pricing and tightening supply. As AI development advances, continuous demand for compute capacity is expected, prompting investments in memory, CPUs, AI chips, and semiconductor manufacturing to address emerging bottlenecks essential for scaling AI. Also, check the fund's top five holdings to see its best picks in 2026.

In its second-quarter 2026 investor letter, Sands Capital Select Growth Fund highlighted Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX), a leading semiconductor equipment company that supplies semiconductor processing equipment. Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX), with a 4.7% portfolio weight, contributed 2.2% to the Fund's performance this quarter. On September 1, 2026, Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX) closed at $290.20 per share. Over the past month, Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX) declined 5.60%, but its shares are up 196.91% over the past year. Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX) has a market capitalization of $363.13 billion.

Sands Capital Select Growth Fund stated the following regarding Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX) in its Q2 2026 investor letter:

"Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX) is a leading global provider of semiconductor fabrication equipment. Shares of the business benefited from renewed confidence in semiconductor capital spending and the rising complexity of chip manufacturing. In the first quarter, revenue grew 24 percent and adjusted earnings per share grew 42 percent year over year, while June-quarter guidance exceeded consensus expectations. The company is a critical supplier of etch and deposition equipment, both of which become increasingly important as memory architectures and leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing grow more complex. We believe Lam's exposure to high-bandwidth memory, advanced NAND, and a recovering memory investment cycle gives it a differentiated role within the AI infrastructure supply chain."

Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX) is not on our list of the 40 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 139 hedge fund portfolios held Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX) at the end of the second quarter, which was 123 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX) as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.

In another article, we discussed Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX) and shared Guinness Global Innovators Fund's insights on the company. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 2026 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.