Lam has two record positions at a leading foundry/logic customer and expects continued growth. The company's installed base is approaching 90,000 chambers. They are expanding their equipment intelligence offering and have introduced the industry's first collaborative maintenance robot. Lam sees potential for growth in the semiconductor industry and is committed to making strategic investments to outperform as the industry and markets grow.

In the December 2023 quarter and calendar year 2024, the tax rate is expected to be in the low to mid-teens range. Other income and expense for the September quarter was $7 million in income, compared to $7 million in expense in the June quarter, due to factors such as rising interest rates. The company allocated $830 million to share repurchases and paid $230 million in dividends in the September quarter, with a 16% growth in the dividend announced. The company has returned over 120% of free cash flow to shareholders in the quarter and has $2.7 billion remaining on their share repurchase plan. Diluted earnings per share for the September quarter was $6.85, above the guided range, with a diluted share count of 133 million shares. The company's cash and short-term investments decreased to $5.2 billion in the September quarter, mainly due to capital return activity, including the purchase of buildings at the company headquarters and factory.

The company's customers are talking about their business, but there is a time lag before they see improvement in bit demand and pricing. The CSBG business has been affected by low fab utilization and delays in technology upgrades. However, as the memory business improves, spares and technology upgrades are expected to come back. The company has a strong position in advanced packaging, with potential for $200 million per year and a path to a $1 billion business. In particular, their share in HBM is strong and there are strong tailwinds for the team in this area.

The speaker clarifies that they have shipped $2 billion worth of products and do not expect any incremental changes. They explain that the tools and technologies mentioned in recent announcements were already being used and do not have a significant impact on their business. The speaker also mentions that Lam is a leader in high aspect ratio etching and that cryo etch is not a new concept for them. Their focus in the NAND market is on driving productivity at every technology node.

The rules for shipping to certain customers have not changed, but there is a need for the industry to collectively understand and comply with them. The recent regulations in China have not affected the long-term objectives of their customers. The uptick in WFE is primarily driven by litho and restricted fabs in China, and Lam has better visibility into this now. The forecast for the Lam business for the year remains unchanged.

Lam has invested in panel processing to bring down the costs of chiplet applications and is also exploring backside power distribution for foundry logic applications. This is part of their strategy to expand their SAM, particularly in the foundry logic sector, which they see as a $1 billion-plus opportunity. They remain committed to their strong memory positions. The capital intensity for HBM technology is higher due to its larger size and longer cycle times, but Lam sees it as a performance-driven application that aligns with their market.

The speaker thanks the interviewer for the opportunity to ask questions and discusses the recent relaxation of licensing requirements for foreign companies operating in China. They mention the importance of long-term investment and certainty for multinational companies and the potential impact on service and spare revenue growth in 2024. They also mention the potential trade-off between different parts of their business.

Doug Bettinger, a representative from a company, discusses the upgrades commentary and the upgrade spend in CSBG. Sidney Ho asks about the timeline for gate-all-around related revenue, and Tim Archer responds that it has not changed much in the past three months and they are working with customers to ensure their tools are qualified for new nodes. The call concludes with closing remarks from the management team.

This summary was generated with AI and may contain some inaccuracies.