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On the back of reported record revenue and other financial milestones for 2010, Lam Research said it was the first equipment supplier to surpass 50% market share in the highly competitive etch equipment business. Lam’s, chief executive officer, Steve Newberry noted in a conference call with financial analysts that the company had achieved 54% share of the etch market. In single-wafer cleaning segment, Newberry claimed it had a 30% market share.

Newberry also noted that Lam had won 9 new applications in single-wafer cleaning and gained 15 new application wins in its etch equipment segment. He also suggested that these wins would continue to propel market share gains in 2011. The market for wafer cleaning tools as a whole was said to be growing faster than wafer fab equipment in 2011.

Semiconductor capital spending was estimated to be flat to up 10% in 2011, driven by NAND flash and foundry capacity expansions, according to Lam’s CEO. In etch, Lam has a high exposure to NAND flash manufacturers, compared to logic IDM’s.

Lam Research’s financial results for the fourth quarter were US$870.7 million in revenue, and shipments of US$892 million quarter ended December 26, 2010.

"Lam delivered record shipments, revenues and earnings per share for the December quarter. In calendar year 2010, our system shipments grew by nearly 200%, significantly outperforming the 120% growth in wafer fab equipment spending and leading to record levels of revenue and earnings at $3 billion and $5.35 per share respectively," stated Steve Newberry, chief executive officer. "Our performance reflects the strong market share gains we achieved in 2010 across both etch and clean product lines. Looking ahead, we are focused on further strengthening our market positions by increasing our investments in field-based customer technology and productivity solutions, as well as core R&D programs targeted at meeting our customers’ future technology needs."