'Lam Research' Top Executives Significantly Shake Up Equity with RSUs and Options

On February 27, U.S. semiconductor-equipment maker Lam Research Corp. (Nasdaq: LRCX) disclosed that CEO Timothy Archer and several other executives received substantial new awards of both time-based and performance-based restricted stock units (RSUs). To cover taxes on the vesting RSUs, a significant number of shares was automatically withheld. Archer was granted roughly 50,000 time-based RSUs and 76,000 performance-based RSUs; after about 170,000 shares were returned to the company for tax withholding, he still holds approximately 1.07 million shares—directly and indirectly—worth about $250 million (approximately ₩340 billion). That same day, Senior Vice President Baradarajan Seshasai reported additional grants of time-based and performance-based RSUs and corresponding share-withholding transactions to pay RSU-vesting taxes.

On March 2, CFO Douglas Bettinger exercised stock options to convert about 60,000 shares into common stock and sold a portion at roughly $230 per share, raising about $9.3 million (approximately ₩130 billion) in cash. He continues to hold just under one million shares.

Earlier this month, Barclays raised its Lam Research price target slightly from $250 to $255, and on March 10 the stock climbed as much as 1.9% intraday. The company has also stepped up local investment, opening a new Boise, Idaho, office in mid-February to support projected growth in U.S. semiconductor manufacturing and to carry out joint next-generation memory research with Micron, staffing the facility with about 150 employees.

Founded in 1980 and headquartered in Fremont, California, Lam Research supplies critical wafer-processing equipment—principally etch and deposition tools—and services to global memory and logic semiconductor manufacturers. In response to rising demand from AI and advanced process technologies, the company has signaled in its filings—and drawn market attention—by boosting R&D investments in next-generation semiconductor, sensor, and photonics technologies through a multi-year research collaboration with CEA-Leti.