Lam Research 10-K 2016-06-26

10-K 1 lrcx_10kx2016xdocument.htm 10-K

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

(Mark One)

For the fiscal year ended June 26, 2016

OR

For the transition period from to .

Commission file number: 0-12933

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (510) 572-0200

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

None

(Title of class)

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes x No ¨

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ¨ No x

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes x No ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files). Yes x No ¨

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. x

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ¨ No x

The aggregate market value of the Registrant’s Common Stock, $0.001 par value, held by non-affiliates of the Registrant, as of December 27, 2015, the last business day of the most recently completed second fiscal quarter with respect to the fiscal year covered by this Form 10-K, was $8,074,598,541. Common Stock held by each officer and director and by each person who owns 5% or more of the outstanding Common Stock has been excluded from this computation in that such persons may be deemed to be affiliates. This determination of affiliate status is not necessarily a conclusive determination of such status for other purposes.

As of August 10, 2016, the Registrant had 160,260,009 outstanding shares of Common Stock.

Documents Incorporated by Reference

Parts of the Registrant’s Proxy Statement for the Annual Meeting of Stockholders expected to be held on or about November 9, 2016 are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Form 10-K. (However, the Reports of the Audit Committee and Compensation Committee are expressly not incorporated by reference herein.)

LAM RESEARCH CORPORATION

2016 ANNUAL REPORT ON FORM 10-K

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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PART I

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

With the exception of historical facts, the statements contained in this discussion are forward-looking statements, which are subject to the safe harbor provisions created by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Certain, but not all, of the forward-looking statements in this report are specifically identified as forward-looking, by use of phrases and words such as “believe,” “anticipate,” “expect,” “may,” “should,” “could” and other future-oriented terms. The identification of certain statements as “forward-looking” is not intended to mean that other statements not specifically identified are not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements that relate to: our ability to close the acquisition of KLA-Tencor Corporation ("KLA-Tencor") and; trends and opportunities in the global economic environment and the semiconductor industry; the anticipated levels of, and rates of change in, future shipments, margins, market share, capital expenditures, international sales, revenue and operating expenses generally; management’s plans and objectives for our current and future operations and business focus; volatility in our quarterly results; customer and end user requirements and our ability to satisfy those requirements; customer capital spending and their demand for our products, and the reliability of indicators of change in customer spending and demand; the effect of variability in our customers' business plans on demand for our equipment and services; changes in demand for our products and in our market share resulting from, among other things, increases in our customers' proportion of capital expenditure (with respect to certain technology inflections); hedging transactions; our ability to defend our market share; our ability to obtain and qualify alternative sources of supply; and to gain new market share; our ability to obtain and qualify alternative sources of supply; factors that affect our tax rates; anticipated growth in the industry and the total market for wafer fabrication equipment and our growth relative to such growth; levels of research and development expenditures; the success of joint development relationships with customers, suppliers or other industry members; and outsourced activities; the role of component suppliers in our business; the resources invested to comply with evolving standards and the impact of such efforts; the estimates we make, and the accruals we record, in order to implement our critical accounting policies (including but not limited to the adequacy of prior tax payments, future tax liabilities and the adequacy of our accruals relating to them); our access to capital markets; our intention to pay quarterly dividends and the amounts thereof, if any; our ability and intention to repurchase our shares; our ability to manage and grow our cash position; and the sufficiency of our financial resources to support future business activities (including but not limited to operations, investments, debt service requirements and capital expenditures). Such statements are based on current expectations and are subject to risks, uncertainties, and changes in condition, significance, value, and effect, including without limitation those discussed below under the heading “Risk Factors” within Item 1A and elsewhere in this report and other documents we file from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), such as our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and our current reports on Form 8-K. Such risks, uncertainties and changes in condition, significance, value, and effect could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed in this report and in ways not readily foreseeable. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof and are based on information currently and reasonably known to us. We do not undertake any obligation to release the results of any revisions to these forward-looking statements, which may be made to reflect events or circumstances that occur after the date of this report or to reflect the occurrence or effect of anticipated or unanticipated events.

Incorporated in 1980, Lam Research Corporation (“Lam Research,” “Lam,” “we,” “our,” or the “Company”) is a Delaware corporation, headquartered in Fremont, California. We maintain a network of facilities throughout Asia, Europe, and the United States in order to meet the needs of our dynamic customer base.

Additional information about Lam Research is available on our website at www.lamresearch.com. The content on any website referred to in this Form 10-K is not a part of or incorporated by reference in this Form 10-K unless expressly noted.

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Our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Forms 10-Q, Current Reports on Forms 8-K, and any amendments to those reports are available on our website as soon as reasonably practical after we file them with or furnish them to the SEC and are also available online at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

The Lam Research logo, Lam Research, and all product and service names used in this report are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Lam Research Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and/or other countries. All other marks mentioned herein are the property of their respective holders.

We are a global supplier of innovative wafer fabrication equipment and services to the semiconductor industry. We design, manufacture, market, refurbish, and service semiconductor processing systems that are used in the fabrication of integrated circuits (“ICs”). Our market-leading products are designed to help our customers build smaller, faster, more powerful, and more power-efficient devices that are used in a variety of electronic products, including mobile phones, wearables, tablets, computers, automotive devices, storage devices, and networking equipment.

Our customer base includes leading semiconductor memory, foundry, and integrated device manufacturers (“IDMs”) that make products such as NAND, DRAM memory, and logic devices. Semiconductor manufacturing, our customers’ business, involves the complete fabrication of multiple dies or ICs on a wafer. This involves the repetition of a set of core processes and can require hundreds of individual steps. On a silicon wafer, a tiny, intricate pattern is precisely replicated across the wafer surface to create identical miniature devices, where features can be 1,000 times smaller than a grain of sand. Fabricating these devices requires highly sophisticated process technologies and precision control at the atomic scale. Along with meeting technical requirements, wafer processing equipment must deliver high productivity and be cost-effective.

We leverage our expertise in semiconductor device processing to develop technology and/or productivity solutions that typically benefit our customers through lower defect rates, enhanced yields, faster processing time, and reduced cost as well as by facilitating their ability to meet more stringent performance and design standards. We offer a broad portfolio of complementary products that are used in several areas of the semiconductor manufacturing process flow, including thin film deposition, plasma etch, and single-wafer clean. These processes, which are repeated numerous times during the wafer fabrication cycle, are utilized to manufacture every type of semiconductor device.

Our products are used primarily in front-end wafer processing, which involves the steps that create the active components of a device (transistor, capacitor) and their wiring (interconnect). Market demand for IC designs is driving the development of and migration to fabrication strategies such as three-dimensional (“3D”) architectures and multiple patterning. We also address processes for back-end wafer-level packaging (“WLP”), which is an alternative to traditional wire bonding and can offer a smaller form factor, increased interconnect speed and bandwidth, and lower power consumption, among other benefits. In addition, our products are well-suited for related markets that rely on semiconductor processes and require production-proven manufacturing capability, such as micro-electromechanical systems (“MEMS”).

Our high-productivity thin film deposition systems form a device’s sub-microscopic layers of conducting (metal) or insulating (dielectric) materials. We are the market leader in plasma etch, a highly critical process step that selectively removes materials from the wafer to create the features and patterns of a device. Our wet spin clean and plasma-based bevel clean products remove particles, residues and film from the wafer surface before or after adjacent processes.

Our Customer Support Business Group (“CSBG”) provides products and services to maximize installed equipment performance and operational efficiency. We offer a broad range of services to deliver value throughout the lifecycle of our equipment, including customer service, spares, upgrades, and refurbishment of our deposition, etch, and clean products. Many of the technical advances that we introduce in our newest products are also available as upgrades, which provide customers with a cost-effective strategy for extending the performance and capabilities of their existing wafer fabrication lines. CSBG also offers refurbished and newly built previous-generation (legacy) equipment for those applications that do not require the most advanced wafer processing capability.

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Products

Thin Film Deposition

In leading-edge semiconductor designs, metal deposition processes face significant scaling and integration challenges. For advanced copper interconnect structures, challenges for electrochemical deposition (“ECD”) include providing complete, void-free fill of high aspect ratio (“HAR”) structures with low defectivity and high productivity. Electroplating of copper and other metals is also used for through-silicon via (“TSV”) and WLP applications, such as forming conductive bumps and redistribution layers (“RDLs”). These applications require excellent within-wafer uniformity at high plating rates, minimal defects, and cost competitiveness. For tungsten chemical vapor deposition (“CVD”) / atomic layer deposition (“ALD”) processes, key requirements are minimizing contact resistance to meet lower power consumption requirements and achieving void-free fill for narrow nanoscale structures. In addition, good barrier step coverage at reduced thicknesses relative to physical vapor deposition/CVD barrier films is also needed to improve contact fill and reduce resistivity.

In dielectric deposition, high-productivity, high-quality films are needed for a number of critical process steps. For example, atomic layer deposition is required for front-end-of-line (“FEOL”) transistor structures and back-end-of-line (“BEOL”) self-aligned multiple patterning schemes to deposit highly conformal and uniform films. Plasma-enhanced CVD (“PECVD”) is used to deposit multiple dielectric films, including the alternating mold stack layers used in 3D NAND memory. This application requires excellent thickness uniformity along with exceptional stress control. For gapfill deposition, achieving defect-free fills while maintaining high throughput is essential. Preferred approaches are to use high-density plasma CVD (“HDP-CVD”) either as a complete gapfill solution or as a cap over other gapfill technologies to enhance process control and mitigate integration risks. Lastly, innovative post-deposition film treatments such as ultraviolet thermal processing (“UVTP”) are being used to improve low-k film integrity and increase strain in nitride layers for improved device performance.

Copper Metal Films — SABRE® Product Family

The SABRE ECD product family is the industry’s leading system for copper damascene manufacturing. Electrofill® technology is designed to provide high-throughput, void-free fill with superior defect density performance for advanced technology nodes. SABRE chemistry packages provide leading-edge fill performance for low defectivity, wide process window, and high rates of bottom-up growth to fill the most challenging HAR features. System capabilities include deposition of copper directly on various liner materials, important for next-generation metallization schemes. The number of yielding ICs per wafer is optimized by increasing the usable die area through process edge exclusion engineering. Applications include copper deposition for both advanced logic and memory interconnect. We also offer the SABRE 3D system to address TSV and WLP applications, such as copper pillar, RDL, high-density fanout, underbump metallization, bumping, and microbumps used in post-TSV processing.

Tungsten Metal Films — ALTUS® Product Family

Our ALTUS systems deposit highly conformal atomic layer films for advanced tungsten metallization applications. The patented Multi-Station Sequential Deposition (“MSSD”) architecture enables a nucleation layer to be formed using Pulsed Nucleation Layer (“PNL”) technology and bulk CVD fill to be performed in the same chamber (“in situ”). PNL, our ALD technology, is used in the deposition of tungsten nitride films to achieve high step coverage with reduced thickness relative to conventional barrier films. PNL is also used to reduce thickness and alter CVD bulk fill grain growth, lowering the overall resistivity of thin tungsten films. The advanced ExtremeFill CVD tungsten technology provides extendibility to fill the most challenging structures at advanced technology nodes. Applications include tungsten plug and via fill, 3D NAND wordlines, low-stress composite interconnects, and tungsten nitride barrier for via and contact metallization.

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PECVD Dielectric Films — VECTOR® Product Family

The VECTOR family of PECVD and ALD systems delivers advanced thin film quality, wafer-to-wafer uniformity, productivity, and low cost of ownership. The MSSD architecture combines the required film performance with both sequential and parallel processing to provide flexibility for a range of applications. VECTOR products include specialized systems for logic and memory applications with multiple platform options. VECTOR Express offers a small footprint with four processing stations. VECTOR Excel is a modular tool for advanced technology nodes where pre-and-post film deposition treatments are needed. VECTOR Extreme accommodates up to 12 processing stations for high-throughput applications. VECTOR Q accommodates up to 16 processing stations for depositing multi-stack films. Applications include deposition of oxides, nitrides, and carbides for hardmasks, multiple patterning films, anti-reflective layers, multi-layer stack films, and diffusion barriers.

Gapfill Dielectric Films — SPEED® Product Family

The SPEED HDP-CVD products are designed to provide void-free gapfill of high-quality dielectric films with superior throughput and reliability. The unique source design provides for particle performance, while the ability to customize the deposition and in situ etching profile ensures across-wafer thickness and gapfill uniformity. Together, the chamber and plasma source designs allow large batch sizes between cleans and faster cleans to deliver superior throughput. Broad process flexibility is available on the same platform, without requiring major hardware changes. Applications include shallow trench isolation (“STI”), pre-metal dielectrics, inter-layer dielectrics, inter-metal dielectrics, and passivation layers.

Film Treatment — SOLA® Product Family

The SOLA UVTP product family is used for treatment of BEOL low-k dielectric films and FEOL silicon nitride strained films. The systems incorporate a proprietary treatment process that modifies the physical characteristics of a previously deposited film through exposure to ultraviolet light, gases and vapors, and heat. The Multi-Station Sequential Processing (“MSSP”) architecture allows independent control of temperature, wavelength, and intensity at each station of the wafer path. We believe this enables delivery of best-in-class film properties, within-wafer and wafer-to-wafer uniformity, and productivity.

Plasma Etch

As the semiconductor industry continues to improve device performance and shrink critical feature sizes, plasma etch faces multiple challenges. These include processing smaller features, new materials, new transistor structures, increasingly complex film stacks, and ever higher aspect ratio structures. For conductor etch, requirements include delivering atomic-scale control for etching FinFET/3D gate transistors, multi–film stacks for high-k/metal gate structures, and multiple patterning structures. Dielectric etch processes must be able to maintain etch profiles on increasingly HAR structures such as in 3D NAND devices, etch new multi-layer photoresist materials and amorphous carbon hardmasks, and avoid damaging fragile low-k materials. In emerging 3D ICs, TSVs are now used to provide interconnect capability for die-to-die and wafer-to-wafer stacking. Critical factors for TSV are etching a variety of materials in situ, as well as being able to use both conventional and special techniques for deep silicon etching. For all etch processes, it is important to provide excellent profile control and across-wafer uniformity while maintaining high productivity and cost efficiency.

Conductor Etch — Kiyo® Product Family, Versys® Metal Product Family

The Kiyo product family is designed to deliver high-performance, high-productivity, low-risk solutions for conductor etch applications. Uniformity, uniformity control, and repeatability are enabled by a symmetrical chamber design, electrostatic chuck technology, and independent tuning features. The Kiyo products deliver high productivity with low defectivity on multi-film stacks, enabled by in situ etch capability, continuous plasma, and advanced Waferless Autoclean technology. To address technology inflections in patterning, the Kiyo family offers state-of-the-art technology with the Hydra patterning system; this capacity enables within wafer uniformity for FEOL/BEOL process modules in 3D NAND, DRAM and logic devices. In addition, Kiyo systems can be configured to perform atomic layer etching (“ALE”), which delivers atomic-scale variability control to enable next-generation wafer processing. Applications include FinFET gate, fin definition, STI, high-k/metal gate and multiple patterning. The Versys metal product family provides a flexible platform for BEOL metal etch processes. Symmetrical chamber design and independent tuning features provide critical dimension, profile uniformity, and uniformity control for metal hardmask applications. The products’ proprietary chamber cleaning technology

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ensures high availability, high yield, and exceptional process repeatability for BEOL processing. Applications include metal hardmask, multiple patterning, high-density aluminum line, and aluminum pad.

Dielectric Etch — FlexTM Product Family

The Flex product family offers differentiated technologies and application-focused capabilities for critical dielectric etch applications. Uniformity, repeatability, and tunability are enabled by a multi-frequency, small-volume, confined plasma design. The systems deliver high productivity with low defectivity, enabled by in situ multi-step etch and continuous plasma capability. Low-risk, cost-effective upgrades provide evolutionary product transitions that extend product life and maximize return on investment. Applications include low-k and ultra low-k dual damascene, mask open, and high aspect ratio applications for DRAM capacitor cell, 3D NAND hole, trench, and contact. In addition, Flex systems can be configured to perform ALE, which delivers atomic-scale variability control to enable next-generation wafer processing for applications such as self-aligned contacts.

TSV Etch — Syndion® Product Family

Based on our production-proven conductor etch products, the Syndion TSV etch family provides low-risk, flexible solutions to address multiple TSV etch applications. The Syndion products provide a low cost of ownership due to high etch rates, excellent repeatability, and in situ etching of multiple materials in the TSV stack (silicon, dielectrics, conducting films). The systems support both conventional single-step etch and rapidly alternating process (“RAP”). High process flexibility, superior profile control, and excellent uniformity enable successful TSV implementation for a variety of complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor 3D IC and image sensor applications.

Single-Wafer Clean

Wafer cleaning is a critical function that must be repeated many times during the semiconductor manufacturing process, from device fabrication through packaging. As device geometries shrink and new materials are introduced, the number of cleaning steps continues to grow. Furthermore, each step has different selectivity and defectivity requirements that add to manufacturing complexity. For next-generation devices, fragile structures need to be cleaned without causing damage. In addition, cleaning steps that target the bevel region can help eliminate the potential source of yield-limiting defects at the wafer’s edge, in order to increase the number of good die at the wafer’s edge and improve yield.

Wet Clean — EOS®, Da Vinci®, DV-Prime®, SP Series

The single-wafer spin technology pioneered the industry transition from batch to single-wafer wet processing. These production-proven spin wet clean systems provide the productivity and flexibility needed for both high-volume manufacturing and leading-edge development across multiple technology nodes and for all device types. The products deliver process uniformity across the wafer, wafer-to-wafer, and lot-to-lot. Proprietary technologies enhance damage-free particle removal and enable wafer drying without pattern collapse or watermarks. Offering the latest in dilute chemistry and solvent systems, the products meet defectivity and material integrity requirements. Applications include particle, polymer, and residue removal; photoresist removal; and wafer backside/bevel cleaning and film removal. Our wet clean systems are also used for multiple wet etch and clean applications for WLP, including silicon substrate thinning, wafer stress relief, underbump metallization etch, and photoresist removal.

Plasma Bevel Clean — Coronus® Product Family

The Coronus plasma-based bevel clean products enhance die yield by removing particles, residues and unwanted films from the wafer’s edge that can impact the device area. The system combines the ability of plasma to selectively remove a wide variety of materials with a proprietary confinement technology that protects the die area. High system uptime and throughput, excellent process repeatability, and efficient in situ removal of multi-material film stacks and residues ensure high productivity for increased wafer output. Applications include post-etch, pre- and post-deposition, pre-lithography, and metal film removal to prevent arcing during plasma etch or deposition steps. It is also a cost-effective bevel clean product that removes carbon-rich residues and films.

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Legacy Products

For applications that do not require the most advanced wafer processing capability, semiconductor manufacturers can benefit from the proven performance of previous-generation products to increase their production capacity at a reduced economic investment. Purchasing through an original equipment manufacturer (“OEM”) like us minimizes the risks of unexpected costs and unpredictable time to production that are typically associated with used systems purchases. To meet semiconductor manufacturers’ needs for high-performance, maximum-predictability, and low-risk equipment, we provide refurbished and newly built legacy products. Our products also provide production-worthy, cost-effective solutions for the MEMS and light emitting diode (“LED”) markets.

Products Table

Fiscal Periods Presented

All references to fiscal years apply to our fiscal years, which ended June 26, 2016, June 28, 2015, and June 29, 2014.

Research and Development

The market for semiconductor capital equipment is characterized by rapid technological change and product innovation. Our ability to achieve and maintain our competitive advantage depends in part on our continued and timely development of new products and enhancements to existing products. Accordingly, we devote a significant portion of our personnel and financial resources to research and development (“R&D”) programs and seek to maintain close and responsive relationships with our customers and suppliers.

Our R&D expenses during fiscal years 2016, 2015, and 2014 were $913.7 million, $825.2 million, and $716.5 million, respectively. The majority of R&D spending over the past three years has been targeted at deposition, etch, single-wafer clean, and other semiconductor manufacturing products. We believe current challenges for customers at various points in the semiconductor manufacturing process present opportunities for us.

We expect to continue to make substantial investments in R&D to meet our customers’ product needs, support our growth strategy, and enhance our competitive position.

Marketing, Sales, and Service

Our marketing, sales, and service efforts are focused on building long-term relationships with our customers and targeting product and service solutions designed to meet their needs. These efforts are supported by a team of product marketing and sales professionals as well as equipment and process engineers who work closely with individual customers to develop solutions for their wafer processing needs. We maintain ongoing service relationships with our customers and have an extensive network of service engineers in place throughout the United States, Europe, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, China, and Southeast Asia. We believe that comprehensive

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support programs and close working relationships with customers are essential to maintaining high customer satisfaction and our competitiveness in the marketplace.

We provide standard warranties for our systems. The warranty provides that systems will be free from defects in material and workmanship and will conform to agreed-upon specifications. The warranty is limited to repair of the defect or replacement with new or like-new equivalent goods and is valid when the buyer provides prompt notification within the warranty period of the claimed defect or non-conformity and also makes the items available for inspection and repair. We also offer extended warranty packages to our customers to purchase as desired.

International Sales

A significant portion of our sales and operations occur outside the United States and, therefore, may be subject to certain risks, including but not limited to tariffs and other barriers, difficulties in staffing and managing non-U.S. operations, adverse tax consequences, foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, changes in currency controls, compliance with U.S. and international laws and regulations, including U.S. export restrictions, and economic and political conditions. Any of these factors may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position, and results of operations and cash flows. For geographical reporting, revenue is attributed to the geographic location in which the customers’ facilities are located. Revenue by region was as follows:

Long-Lived Assets

Refer to Note 18 of our Consolidated Financial Statements, included in Item 8 of this report, for information concerning the geographic locations of long-lived assets.

Customers

Our customers include all of the world’s leading semiconductor manufacturers. Customers continue to establish joint ventures, alliances and licensing arrangements which have the potential to positively or negatively impact our competitive position and market opportunities. Customers accounting for greater than 10% of total revenues in fiscal year 2016 included Micron Technology, Inc.; Samsung Electronics Company, Ltd.; SK Hynix Inc.; and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd. Customers accounting for greater than 10% of total revenues in fiscal year 2015 included Micron Technology, Inc.; Samsung Electronics Company, Ltd.; and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd. Customers accounting for greater than 10% of total revenues in fiscal year 2014 included Samsung Electronics Company, Ltd.; SK Hynix Inc.; and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.

A material reduction in orders from our customers could adversely affect our results of operations and projected financial condition. Our business depends upon the expenditures of semiconductor manufacturers. Semiconductor manufacturers’ businesses, in turn, depend on many factors, including their economic capability, the current and anticipated market demand for ICs and the availability of equipment capacity to support that demand.

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Backlog

In general, we schedule production of our systems based upon our customers’ delivery requirements and forecasts. In order for a system to be included in our backlog, the following conditions must be met: 1) we have received a written customer request that has been accepted, 2) we have an agreement on prices and product specifications, and 3) there is a scheduled shipment within the next 12 months. In order for spares and services to be included in our backlog, the following conditions must be met: 1) we have received a written customer request that has been accepted and 2) delivery of products or provision of services is anticipated within the next 12 months. Where specific spare parts and customer service purchase contracts do not contain discrete delivery dates, we use volume estimates at the contract price and over the contract period, not to exceed 12 months, in calculating backlog amounts. Our policy is to revise our backlog for order cancellations and to make adjustments to reflect, among other things, changes in spares volume estimates and customer delivery date changes. As of June 26, 2016 and June 28, 2015, our backlog was $1,371 million and $880 million, respectively. Generally, orders for our products and services are subject to cancellation by our customers with limited penalties. Because some orders are received and shipped in the same quarter and because customers may change delivery dates and cancel orders, our backlog at any particular date is not necessarily indicative of business volumes or actual revenue levels for succeeding periods.

Manufacturing

Our manufacturing operations mainly consist of assembling and testing components, sub-assemblies, and modules that are then integrated into finished systems prior to shipment to or at the location of our customers. Most of the assembly and testing of our products is conducted in cleanroom environments.

We have agreements with third parties to outsource certain aspects of our manufacturing, production warehousing, and logistics functions. We believe that these outsourcing contracts provide us more flexibility to scale our operations up or down in a timely and cost effective manner, enabling us to respond quickly to any changes in our business. We believe that we have selected reputable providers and have secured their performance on terms documented in written contracts. However, it is possible that one or more of these providers could fail to perform as we expect, and such failure could have an adverse impact on our business and have a negative effect on our operating results and financial condition. Overall, we believe we have effective mechanisms to manage risks associated with our outsourcing relationships. Refer to Note 15 of our Consolidated Financial Statements, included in Item 8 of this report, for further information concerning our outsourcing commitments.

Certain components and sub-assemblies that we include in our products may only be obtained from a single supplier. We believe that, in many cases, we could obtain and qualify alternative sources to supply these products. Nevertheless, any prolonged inability to obtain these components could have an adverse effect on our operating results and could unfavorably impact our customer relationships.

Environmental Matters

We are subject to a variety of governmental regulations related to the management of hazardous materials that we use in our business operations. We are currently not aware of any pending notices of violations, fines, lawsuits, or investigations arising from environmental matters that would have a material effect on our business. We believe that we are generally in compliance with these regulations and that we have obtained (or will obtain or are otherwise addressing) all necessary environmental permits to conduct our business. Nevertheless, the failure to comply with present or future regulations could result in fines being imposed on us, require us to suspend production or cease operations or cause our customers to not accept our products. These regulations could require us to alter our current operations, to acquire significant additional equipment, or to incur substantial other expenses to comply with environmental regulations. Our failure to control the use, sale, transport, or disposal of hazardous substances could subject us to future liabilities.

Employees

As of August 10, 2016, we had approximately 7,500 regular employees globally. Although we have employment-related agreements with a number of key employees, these agreements do not guarantee continued service. Each of our employees is required to comply with our policies relating to maintaining the confidentiality of our non-public information.

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In the semiconductor and semiconductor equipment industries, competition for highly skilled employees is intense. Our future success depends, to a significant extent, upon our continued ability to attract and retain qualified employees, particularly in the R&D and customer support functions.

Competition

The semiconductor capital equipment industry is characterized by rapid change and is highly competitive throughout the world. To compete effectively, we invest significant financial resources to continue to strengthen and enhance our product and services portfolio and to maintain customer service and support locations globally. Semiconductor manufacturers evaluate capital equipment suppliers in many areas, including, but not limited to, process performance, productivity, defect control, customer support, and overall cost of ownership, which can be affected by many factors such as equipment design, reliability, software advancements, and similar factors. Our ability to succeed in the marketplace depends upon our ability to maintain existing products and introduce product enhancements and new products that meet customer requirements on a timely basis. In addition, semiconductor manufacturers must make a substantial investment to qualify and integrate new capital equipment into semiconductor production lines. As a result, once a semiconductor manufacturer has selected a particular supplier’s equipment and qualified it for production, the manufacturer generally maintains that selection for that specific production application and technology node as long as the supplier’s products demonstrate performance to specification in the installed base. Accordingly, we may experience difficulty in selling to a given customer if that customer has qualified a competitor’s equipment. We must also continue to meet the expectations of our installed base of customers through the delivery of high-quality and cost-efficient spare parts in the presence of competition from third-party spare parts providers.

We face significant competition with all of our products and services. Our primary competitor in the tungsten CVD, PECVD, HDP-CVD, ECD and PVD markets, is Applied Materials, Inc. In the PECVD market, in addition to Applied Materials, Inc., we also compete against ASM International and Wonik IPS. In the etch market, our primary competitors are Tokyo Electron, Ltd. and Applied Materials, Inc. Our primary competitors in the single-wafer wet clean market are Screen Holding Co., Ltd.; Semes Co., Ltd.; and Tokyo Electron, Ltd.

Certain of our existing and potential competitors have substantially greater financial resources and larger engineering, manufacturing, marketing, and customer service and support organizations than we do. In addition, we face competition from a number of emerging companies in the industry. We expect our competitors to continue to improve the design and performance of their current products and processes, to introduce new products and processes with enhanced price/performance characteristics and to provide more comprehensive offerings of products. If our competitors make acquisitions or enter into strategic relationships with leading semiconductor manufacturers, or other entities, covering products similar to those we sell, our ability to sell our products to those customers could be adversely affected. There can be no assurance that we will continue to compete successfully in the future.

Patents and Licenses

Our policy is to seek patents on inventions relating to new or enhanced products and processes developed as part of our ongoing research, engineering, manufacturing, and support activities. We currently hold a number of United States and foreign patents covering various aspects of our products and processes. We believe that the duration of our patents generally exceeds the useful life of the technologies and processes disclosed and claimed in them. Our patents, which cover material aspects of our past and present core products, have current durations ranging from approximately one to twenty years. We believe that, although the patents we own and may obtain in the future will be of value, they alone will not determine our success. Our success depends principally upon our research and development, engineering, marketing, support, and delivery skills. However, in the absence of patent protection, we may be vulnerable to competitors who attempt to imitate our products, manufacturing techniques, and processes. In addition, other companies and inventors may receive patents that contain claims applicable or similar to our products and processes. The sale of products covered by patents of others could require licenses that may not be available on terms acceptable to us, or at all. For further discussion of legal matters, see Item 3, “Legal Proceedings,” of this report.

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EXECUTIVE OFFICERS OF THE COMPANY

As of August 16, 2016, the executive officers of Lam Research were as follows:

Martin B. Anstice has been our President and Chief Executive Officer since January 2012. Mr. Anstice joined us in April 2001 as Senior Director, Operations Controller; was promoted to the position of Managing Director and Corporate Controller in May 2002; and was promoted to Group Vice President and Chief Financial Officer in June 2004. He was appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer in September 2008 and President in December 2010. Prior to joining us, he held various finance positions from 1988 to 1999 at Raychem Corporation, a global materials science company. Subsequent to the acquisition of Raychem by Tyco International, a global provider of engineered electronic components, network solutions and wireless systems, he assumed responsibility for supporting mergers and acquisitions activities of Tyco Electronics. Mr. Anstice is an Associate member of the Institute of Chartered Management Accountants in the United Kingdom.

Timothy M. Archer joined us in June 2012 as our Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer. Prior to joining us, he spent 18 years at Novellus Systems in various technology development and business leadership roles, including most recently as Chief Operating Officer from January 2011 to June 2012, Executive Vice President Worldwide Sales, Marketing, and Customer Satisfaction from September 2009 to January 2011, and Executive Vice President of the PECVD and Electrofill Business Units from November 2008 to September 2009. His tenure at Novellus Systems also included assignments as Senior Director of Technology for Novellus Systems Japan from 1999 to 2001 and Senior Director of Technology for the Electrofill Business Unit from April 2001 to April 2002. He started his career in 1989 at Tektronix where he was responsible for process development for high-speed bipolar ICs. Mr. Archer completed the Program for Management Development at Harvard Graduate School of Business and holds a B.S. degree in Applied Physics from the California Institute of Technology.

Doug Bettinger is our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer with responsibility for finance, tax, treasury, information technology and investor relations. Prior to joining the company in 2013, Mr. Bettinger served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Avago Technologies from 2008 to 2013. From 2007 to 2008, he served as Vice President of finance and corporate controller at Xilinx, Inc., and from 2004 to 2007, he was Chief Financial Officer at 24/7 Customer, a privately held company. Mr. Bettinger worked at Intel Corporation from 1993 to 2004, where he held several senior-level finance positions, including corporate planning and reporting controller and Malaysia site operations controller. Mr. Bettinger earned a M.B.A. in finance from the University of Michigan and has a B.S. degree in economics from the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

Richard A. Gottscho is our Executive Vice President, Global Products Group, a position he has held since August 2010. Prior to that time, he had been Group Vice President and General Manager, Etch Businesses since March 2007. He joined us in January 1996 and has served at various Director and Vice President levels in support of etch products, CVD products, and corporate research. Prior to joining us, he was a member of Bell Laboratories for 15 years where he started his career working in plasma processing. During his tenure at Bell, he headed research departments in electronics materials, electronics packaging, and flat panel displays. He is the author of numerous papers, patents, and lectures in plasma processing and process control. He is a recipient of the American Vacuum Society’s Peter Mark Memorial Award and Plasma Science and Technology Division Prize, the Gaseous Electronics Conference Foundation Lecturer, the Dry Process Symposium Nishizawa Award, and the Tegal Thinker Award. He is a fellow of the American Physical and American Vacuum Societies and has served on numerous editorial boards of refereed technical publications and program committees for major conferences in plasma science and engineering, and was vice-chair of a National Research Council study on plasma science in the 1980s. In 2016, Dr. Gottscho was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering. Dr. Gottscho earned Ph.D. and B.S. degrees in physical chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Pennsylvania State University, respectively.

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Sarah A. O’Dowd is our Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary. She joined us in September 2008 as Group Vice President and Chief Legal Officer, responsible for general legal matters, intellectual property and ethics and compliance. In addition to her Legal function, in April 2009 she was appointed Vice President of Human Resources and served in this dual capacity from April 2009 through May 2012. Prior to joining us, she was Vice President and General Counsel for FibroGen, Inc. from February 2007 until September 2008. Until February 2007, Ms. O’Dowd was a shareholder in the law firm of Heller Ehrman LLP for more than 20 years, practicing in the areas of corporate securities, governance and mergers and acquisitions for a variety of clients, principally publicly traded high technology companies. She served in a variety of leadership and management roles at Heller Ehrman, including Managing Partner of the Silicon Valley and San Diego offices, member of the firm’s Policy Committee and, as head of the firm’s business practice groups, a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. Ms. O’Dowd earned her J.D. and M.A. in communications from Stanford Law School and Stanford University, respectively, and her B.A. degree in mathematics from Immaculata College.

In addition to the other information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K (“2016 Form 10-K”), the following risk factors should be carefully considered in evaluating the Company and its business because such factors may significantly impact our business, operating results, and financial condition. As a result of these risk factors, as well as other risks discussed in our other SEC filings, our actual results could differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statements. No priority or significance is intended, nor should be attached, to the order in which the risk factors appear.

The Semiconductor Capital Equipment Industry is Subject to Variability and, as a Result, We Face Risks Related to Our Strategic Resource Allocation Decisions

The semiconductor capital equipment industry has historically been characterized by rapid changes in demand. The industry environment has moved toward an environment more characterized by variability across segments and customers accentuated by consolidation within the industry. Variability in our customers’ business plans may lead to changes in demand for our equipment and services, which could negatively impact our results. The variability in our customers’ investments during any particular period is dependent on several factors including but not limited to electronics demand, economic conditions (both general and in the semiconductor and electronics industries), industry supply and demand, prices for semiconductors, and our customers’ ability to develop and manufacture increasingly complex and costly semiconductor devices. The changes in demand may require our management to adjust spending and other resources allocated to operating activities.

During periods of rapid growth or decline in demand for our products and services, we face significant challenges in maintaining adequate financial and business controls, management processes, information systems, procedures for training and managing our work force, and in appropriately sizing our supply chain infrastructure, work force, and other components of our business on a timely basis. If we do not adequately meet these challenges during periods of demand decline, our gross margins and earnings may be negatively impacted.

We continuously reassess our strategic resource allocation choices in response to the changing business environment. If we do not adequately adapt to the changing business environment, we may lack the infrastructure and resources to scale up our business to meet customer expectations and compete successfully during a period of growth, or we may expand our capacity too rapidly and/or beyond what is appropriate for the actual demand environment.

Especially during transitional periods, resource allocation decisions can have a significant impact on our future performance, particularly if we have not accurately anticipated industry changes. Our success will depend, to a significant extent, on the ability of our executive officers and other members of our senior management to identify and respond to these challenges effectively.

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Future Declines in the Semiconductor Industry, and the Overall World Economic Conditions on Which it is Significantly Dependent, Could Have a Material Adverse Impact on Our Results of Operations and Financial Condition

Our business depends on the capital equipment expenditures of semiconductor manufacturers, which in turn depend on the current and anticipated market demand for integrated circuits. With the consolidation of customers within the industry, the semiconductor capital equipment market may experience rapid changes in demand driven both by changes in the market generally and the plans and requirements of particular customers. Global economic and business conditions, which are often unpredictable, have historically impacted customer demand for our products and normal commercial relationships with our customers, suppliers, and creditors. Additionally, in times of economic uncertainty our customers’ budgets for our products, or their ability to access credit to purchase them, could be adversely affected. This would limit their ability to purchase our products and services. As a result, economic downturns can cause material adverse changes to our results of operations and financial condition including, but not limited to:

Fluctuating levels of investment by semiconductor manufacturers may materially affect our aggregate shipments, revenues, operating results, and earnings. Where appropriate, we will attempt to respond to these fluctuations with cost management programs aimed at aligning our expenditures with anticipated revenue streams, which sometimes result in restructuring charges. Even during periods of reduced revenues, we must continue to invest in R&D and maintain extensive ongoing worldwide customer service and support capabilities to remain competitive, which may temporarily harm our profitability and other financial results.

Our Quarterly Revenues and Operating Results Are Variable

Our revenues and operating results may fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter due to a number of factors, not all of which are in our control. We manage our expense levels based in part on our expectations of future revenues. Because our operating expenses are based in part on anticipated future revenues, and a certain amount of those expenses are relatively fixed, a change in the timing of recognition of revenue and/or the level of gross profit from a small number of transactions can unfavorably affect operating results in a particular quarter. Factors that may cause our financial results to fluctuate unpredictably include, but are not limited to:

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None.

Our executive offices and principal operating and R&D facilities are located in Fremont, Livermore, and San Jose, California, Tualatin, Oregon, and Villach, Austria. The majority of the Fremont and Livermore facilities are held under operating leases expiring 2020 and 2021, in addition the Villach facilities are held under capital leases expiring in calendar year 2016. Our Fremont, Livermore, and Villach leases generally include options to renew or purchase the facilities. In addition, we lease or own properties for our service, technical support and sales personnel throughout the United States, Europe, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, China, and Southeast Asia, and lease or own manufacturing facilities located in Illinois, Ohio, Germany, and Korea. The company owns two properties in Fremont, as well as, the Tualatin facilities. During fiscal year 2016 we sold our San Jose facilities and entered into an operating lease for use of the buildings for a portion of calendar year 2016. Our facilities lease obligations are subject to periodic increases. We believe that our existing facilities are well-maintained and in good operating condition.

While we are not currently party to any legal proceedings that we believe are material, we are either a defendant or plaintiff in various actions that have arisen from time to time in the normal course of business, including intellectual property claims. We accrue for a liability when it is both probable that a liability has been incurred and the amount of the loss can be reasonably estimated. Significant judgment is required in both the determination of probability and the determination as to whether a loss is reasonably estimable. These accruals are reviewed at

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least quarterly and adjusted to reflect the effects of negotiations, settlements, rulings, advice of legal counsel, and other information and events pertaining to a particular matter. To the extent there is a reasonable possibility that the losses could exceed the amounts already accrued, we believe that the amount of any such additional loss would be immaterial to our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Not applicable.

PART II

Stock Information

Our Common Stock is traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol LRCX. As of August 10, 2016, we had 454 stockholders of record. In fiscal year 2016 we paid our stockholders quarterly dividends of $0.30 per share, and in fiscal year 2015, quarterly dividends of $0.18 per share. The table below sets forth the high and low prices of our Common Stock as reported by The Nasdaq Stock Market, for the period indicated:

Repurchase of Company Shares

On April 29, 2014, the Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of up to $850 million of Common Stock. These repurchases can be conducted on the open market or as private purchases and may include the use of derivative contracts with large financial institutions, in all cases subject to compliance with applicable law. Repurchases will be funded using our on-shore cash and on-shore cash generation. This repurchase program has no termination date and may be suspended or discontinued at any time. As part of our share repurchase program, we may from time-to-time enter into structured share repurchase arrangements with financial institutions using general corporate funds. As part of our share repurchase program, we may from time-to-time enter into structured share repurchase arrangements with financial institutions using general corporate funds. We currently are restricted from repurchasing our common stock pursuant to the KLA-Tencor merger agreement.

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Share repurchases, including those under the repurchase program, were as follows:

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Cumulative 5-year Return

The graph below compares Lam Research Corporation’s cumulative 5-year total shareholder return on Common Stock with the cumulative total returns of the NASDAQ Composite index, and the Philadelphia (“PHLX”) Semiconductor Sector Index. The graph tracks the performance of a $100 investment in our Common Stock and in each of the indices (with the reinvestment of all dividends) from June 30, 2011 to June 30, 2016.

*$100 invested on 6/30/2011 in stock or index, including reinvestment of dividends. Fiscal Year ending June 30.

Copyright© 2016 S&P, a division of McGraw Hill Financial. All rights reserved.

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The following discussion of our financial condition and results of operations contains forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks, uncertainties and changes in condition, significance, value and effect. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, including but not limited to those discussed in “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this 2016 Form 10-K and other documents we file from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. (See “Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” in Part I of this 2016 Form 10-K).

Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations (“MD&A”) provides a description of our results of operations and should be read in conjunction with our Consolidated Financial Statements and accompanying Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in this 2016 Form 10-K. MD&A consists of the following sections:

Executive Summary provides a summary of the key highlights of our results of operations and our management’s assessment of material trends and uncertainties relevant to our business.

Results of Operations provides an analysis of operating results.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates discusses accounting policies that reflect the more significant judgments and estimates used in the preparation of our Consolidated Financial Statements.

Liquidity and Capital Resources provides an analysis of cash flows, contractual obligations and financial position.

Executive Summary

Lam Research has been an innovative supplier of wafer fabrication equipment and services to the semiconductor industry for more than 35 years. Our customers include semiconductor manufacturers that make memory, microprocessors, and other logic integrated circuits for a wide range of electronics; including mobile phones, computers, tablets, wearables, automotive features, storage devices, and networking equipment.

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Our market-leading products are designed to help our customers build the smaller, faster, and more powerful devices that are necessary to power the capabilities required by end users. The process of integrated circuits fabrication consists of a complex series of process and preparation steps, and our product offerings in deposition, etch, and clean address a number of the most critical steps in the fabrication process. We leverage our expertise in semiconductor processing to develop technology and/or productivity solutions that typically benefit our customers through lower defect rates, enhanced yields, faster processing time, and reduced cost as well as by facilitating their ability to meet more stringent performance and design standards.

The semiconductor capital equipment industry has been highly competitive and characterized by rapid changes in demand. This cyclicality has been mitigated in recent years by market demands and consolidation among our customers. With a reduced number of customers, variability in their business plans lead to changes in demand for Lam’s equipment and services. The variability in our customers’ investments during any particular period is dependent on several factors including but not limited to electronics demand, economic conditions (both general and in the semiconductor and electronics industries), industry supply and demand, prices for semiconductors, and our customers’ ability to develop and manufacture increasingly complex and costly semiconductor devices.

During the most recent fiscal year, demand for our products improved as semiconductor device manufacturers, particularly non volatile memory customers, made capacity and technology investments. Technology inflections in our industry, including 3DNAND, multiple patterning, FINFET and advanced packaging have led to an increase in our served addressable market for our deposition and etch products. We believe that, over the longer term, demand for our products should increase as the proportion of customers’ capital expenditures rises in these technology inflection areas, and we continue to gain market share.

In October 2015, as further described in Note 19 to our Consolidated Financial Statements, we announced that we had entered into an agreement to acquire KLA-Tencor Corporation.

The following summarizes certain key financial information for the periods indicated below:

Fiscal year 2016 revenues increased 12% compared to fiscal year 2015, reflecting an increase in technology and capacity investments by our customers. Gross margin as a percentage of revenue improved 1.1%, which was primarily due to a more favorable customer and product mix.

Fiscal year 2015 revenues increased 14% compared to fiscal year 2014, reflecting the steady increase in spending on technology inflections. The small decrease in gross margin as a percentage of revenue for the fiscal year 2015 compared to fiscal year 2014 was due primarily to less favorable product mix partially offset by improved factory utilization due to higher production volumes.

Operating expenses in fiscal year 2016 increased as compared to fiscal year 2015 primarily as a result of continued investments in research and development and increased employee headcount. Fiscal year 2016 also included KLA-Tencor acquisition related costs.

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Operating expenses in fiscal year 2015 increased as compared to fiscal year 2014 primarily as a result of continued investments in the next-generation research and development. In fiscal year 2015, we also recorded a goodwill impairment of approximately $79 million related to our single-wafer clean reporting unit.

Our cash and cash equivalents, investments, and restricted cash and investments balances totaled approximately $7.1 billion as of June 26, 2016 compared to $4.2 billion as of June 28, 2015. This increase was primarily the result of approximately $2.4 billion proceeds from June 2016 senior notes issuance, net of related issuance costs co

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Investments

We maintain an investment portfolio of various holdings, types, and maturities. As of June 26, 2016, our mutual funds are classified as trading securities. Investments classified as trading securities are recorded at fair value based upon quoted market prices. Any material differences between the cost and fair value of trading securities is recognized as “Other income (expense)” in our Consolidated Statement of Operations. All of our other investments are classified as available-for-sale and consequently are recorded in the Consolidated Balance Sheets at fair value with unrealized gains or losses reported as a separate component of accumulated other comprehensive income, net of tax.

Interest Rate Risk

Fixed Income Securities

Our investments in various interest earning securities carry a degree of market risk for changes in interest rates. At any time, a sharp rise in interest rates could have a material adverse impact on the fair value of our fixed income investment portfolio. Conversely, declines in interest rates could have a material adverse impact on interest income for our investment portfolio. We target to maintain a conservative investment policy, which focuses on the safety and preservation of our capital by limiting default risk, market risk, reinvestment risk, and concentration risk. The following table presents the hypothetical fair values of fixed income securities that would result from selected potential decreases and increases in interest rates. Market changes reflect immediate hypothetical parallel shifts in the yield curve of plus or minus 50 basis points (“BPS”), 100 BPS, and 150 BPS. The hypothetical fair values as of June 26, 2016 were as follows:

We mitigate default risk by investing in high credit quality securities and by positioning our portfolio to respond appropriately to a significant reduction in a credit rating of any investment issuer or guarantor. The portfolio includes only marketable securities with active secondary or resale markets to achieve portfolio liquidity and maintain a prudent amount of diversification.

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Long-Term Debt

As of June 26, 2016, we had $4.55 billion in principal amount of fixed-rate long-term debt outstanding, with a fair value of $5.88 billion. The fair value of our Notes is subject to interest rate risk, market risk, and other factors due to the convertible feature, as applicable. Generally, the fair value of Notes will increase as interest rates fall and decrease as interest rates rise. Additionally, the fair value of the Convertible Notes will increase as our Common Stock price increases and decrease as our Common Stock price decreases. The interest and market value changes affect the fair value of our Notes but do not impact our financial position, cash flows, or results of operations due to the fixed nature of the debt obligations. We do not carry the Notes at fair value, but present the fair value of the principal amount of our Notes for disclosure purposes.

Equity Price Risk

Publicly Traded Securities

The values of our investments in publicly traded securities, including mutual funds related to our obligations under our deferred compensation plans, are subject to market price risk. The following table presents the hypothetical fair values of our publicly traded securities that would result from potential decreases and increases in the price of each security in the portfolio. Potential fluctuations in the price of each security in the portfolio of plus or minus 10%, 15%, or 25% were selected based on potential near-term changes in those security prices. The hypothetical fair values as of June 26, 2016 were as follows:

Foreign Currency Exchange (“FX”) Risk

We conduct business on a global basis in several major international currencies. As such, we are potentially exposed to adverse as well as beneficial movements in foreign currency exchange rates. The majority of our revenues and expenses are denominated in U.S. dollars. However, we are exposed to foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations primarily related to revenues denominated in Japanese yen and euro-denominated and Korean won-denominated expenses.

We enter into foreign currency forward and option contracts to minimize the short-term impact of exchange rate fluctuations on certain foreign currency denominated monetary assets and liabilities, primarily third party accounts receivables, accounts payables and intercompany receivables and payables. In addition, we hedge certain anticipated foreign currency cash flows, primarily on Japanese yen-denominated revenues and euro-denominated and Korean won-denominated expenses.

To protect against the reduction in value of anticipated revenues denominated in Japanese yen and euro-denominated and Korean won-denominated expenses, we enter into foreign currency forward and option contracts that generally expire within 12 months, and no later than 24 months. These foreign currency hedge contracts are designated as cash flow hedges and are carried on our balance sheet at fair value, with the effective portion of the contracts’ gains or losses included in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) and subsequently recognized in earnings in the same period the hedged revenue and/or expense is recognized. We also enter into foreign currency forward contracts to hedge the gains and losses generated by the remeasurement of certain non-U.S.-dollar denominated monetary assets and liabilities, primarily third party accounts receivables, accounts payables and intercompany receivables and payables. The change in fair value of these balance sheet hedge contracts is recorded into earnings as a component of other income (expense), net and offsets the change in fair value of the foreign currency denominated monetary assets and liabilities also recorded in other income (expense), net, assuming the hedge contract fully covers the intercompany and trade receivable balances. The notional amount and unrealized gain of our outstanding forward and option contracts that are designated as cash flow hedges, as of June 26, 2016 are shown in the table below. This table also

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shows the change in fair value of these cash flow hedges assuming a hypothetical foreign currency exchange rate movement of plus-or-minus 10 percent and plus-or-minus 15 percent.

(1) Contracts were entered into and designated as cash flow hedges under ASC 815, during the fiscal year as part of our cash flow hedge program. The contracts were subsequently de-designated during the year ended June 26, 2016. Changes in fair market value subsequent to de-designation affect current earnings.

(2) Contracts were entered into to off-set the buy put contracts, and while not designated as a cash flow hedge they are considered to be part of our cash flow hedge program. Changes in fair market value effect current earnings.

The notional amount and unrealized loss of our outstanding foreign currency forward contracts that are designated as balance sheet hedges, as of June 26, 2016 are shown in the table below. This table also shows the change in fair value of these balance sheet hedges, assuming a hypothetical foreign currency exchange rate movement of plus-or-minus 10 percent and plus-or-minus 15 percent. These changes in fair values would be offset in other income (expense), net, by corresponding change in fair values of the foreign currency denominated monetary assets and liabilities, assuming the hedge contract fully covers the intercompany and trade receivable balances.

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Interest Rate Contracts

Interest rate risk is present with both fixed and floating-rate debt. Interest rate swap agreements designated as fair value hedges are used to mitigate our exposure to changes in the fair value of fixed-rate debt resulting from fluctuations in benchmark interest rates. Accordingly, benchmark interest rate fluctuations impact the fair value of our fixed-rate debt, which are offset by corresponding changes in the fair value of the swap agreements. Interest rate swaps may also be used to adjust interest rate exposures when appropriate, based on market conditions, and for qualifying hedges, the interest differential of swaps is included in interest expense. During the fiscal year ended June 26, 2016, we entered into a series of interest rate contracts with a total notional value of $400.0 million where we received fixed rates and paid variable rates based on certain benchmark interest rates. Such interest rate swap arrangements were designated as fair value hedges of the fair value of the underlying debt instrument.

The following table shows the change in fair value of these fair value hedges, assuming a hypothetical benchmark interest rate movement of plus-or-minus 10 BPS and plus-or-minus 15 BPS.

Interest rate risk is also present on anticipated issuances of debt. We manage our interest rate exposure on anticipated issuances of debt through forward starting interest rate swap agreements. Forward-starting interest rate swap agreements designated as cash flow hedges are used to mitigate our exposure to changes in future interest payments that results from fluctuations in benchmark interest rates prior to the issuance of the debt. Accordingly, benchmark interest rate fluctuations impact the interest cash flows of the Company’s anticipated debt issuances, which are offset by corresponding changes in the fair value of the forward-starting interest rate swap agreements. During the fiscal year ended June 26, 2016, we entered into and settled a series of forward-starting interest rate swap agreements with a total notional value of $600.0 million, associated with our June 2016 debt offering. Such forward-starting interest rate swap agreements were designated as hedges of the cash flows associated with benchmark interest rates underlying future interest payments on the June 2016 debt issuances.

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Index to Consolidated Financial Statements

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LAM RESEARCH CORPORATION

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

(in thousands, except per share data)

See Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

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LAM RESEARCH CORPORATION

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME

(in thousands)

See Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

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LAM RESEARCH CORPORATION

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(in thousands, except per share data)

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None.

Design of Disclosure Controls and Procedures and Internal Control over Financial Reporting

We maintain disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over final reporting that are designed to comply with Rule 13a-15 of the Exchange Act. In designing and evaluating the controls and procedures associated with each, management recognizes that any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving the desired control objectives, and that the effectiveness of controls cannot be absolute because the cost to design and implement a control to identify errors or mitigate the risk of errors occurring should not outweigh the potential loss caused by the errors that would likely be detected by the control. Moreover, we believe that a control system cannot be guaranteed to be 100% effective all of the time. Accordingly, a control system, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the control system’s objectives will be met.

Disclosure Controls and Procedures

As required by Rule 13a-15(b) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), as of June 26, 2016, we carried out an evaluation, under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer, of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures as defined in Rule 13a-15(e). Based upon that evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer each concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures are effective, as of June 26, 2016, at the reasonable assurance level.

We intend to review and evaluate the design and effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures on an ongoing basis and to correct any material deficiencies that we may discover. Our goal is to ensure that our senior management has timely access to material information that could affect our business.

Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

There has been no change in our internal control over financial reporting during our most recent fiscal quarter that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

Management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate “internal control over financial reporting”, as that term is defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f). Management conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting based on the framework in Internal Controls — Integrated Framework used by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (2013 Framework). Based on that evaluation, management has concluded that the Company’s internal control over financial reporting was effective as of June 26, 2016 at providing reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with GAAP.

Ernst & Young LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, has audited the Company’s internal control over financial reporting, as stated in their report, which is included in Part II, Item 8 of this 2016 Form 10-K.

Effectiveness of Controls

While we believe the present design of our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting is effective at the reasonable assurance level, future events affecting our business may cause us to modify our disclosure controls and procedures or internal controls over financial reporting.

None.

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PART III

We have omitted from this 2016 Form 10-K certain information required by Part III because we, as the Registrant, will file a definitive proxy statement with the SEC within 120 days after the end of our fiscal year, pursuant to Regulation 14A, as promulgated by the SEC, for our Annual Meeting of Stockholders expected to be held on or about November 9, 2016 (the “Proxy Statement”), and certain information included in the Proxy Statement is incorporated into this report by reference. (However, the Reports of the Audit Committee and Compensation Committee in the Proxy Statement are expressly not incorporated by reference into this report.)

For information regarding our executive officers, see Part I, Item 1 of this 2016 Form 10-K under the caption “Executive Officers of the Company,” which information is incorporated into Part III by reference.

The information concerning our directors required by this Item is incorporated by reference to our Proxy Statement under the heading “Voting Proposals — Proposal No. 1: Election of Directors — 2016 Nominees for Director” and "Voting Proposals — Proposal No. 2: — Election of Additional Directors — 2016 Nominees for Director."

The information concerning our audit committee and audit committee financial experts required by this Item is incorporated by reference to our Proxy Statement under the heading “Governance Matters — Corporate Governance — Board Committees" and "Governance Matters — Corporate Governance — Board Committees — Audit Committee.”

The information concerning compliance by our officers, directors and 10% shareholders with Section 16 of the Exchange Act required by this Item is incorporated by reference to our Proxy Statement under the heading “Stock Ownership – Section 16(a) Beneficial Ownership Reporting Compliance.”

The Company has adopted a Corporate Code of Ethics that applies to all employees, officers, and directors of the Company. Our Code of Ethics is publicly available on the investor relations page of our website at http://investor.lamresearch.com. To the extent required by law, any amendments to, or waivers from, any provision of the Code of Ethics will promptly be disclosed to the public. To the extent permitted by applicable legal requirements, we intend to make any required public disclosure by posting the relevant material on our website in accordance with SEC rules.

The information required by this Item is incorporated by reference to our Proxy Statement under the heading “Compensation Matters — Executive Compensation and Other Information.”

The information required by this Item is incorporated by reference to our Proxy Statement under the headings “Stock Ownership — Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management” and “Compensation Matters — Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans.”

The information required by this Item is incorporated by reference to our Proxy Statement under the headings “Audit Matters — Certain Relationships and Related Transactions” and “Governance Matters — Corporate Governance — Director Independence Policies."

The information required by this Item is incorporated by reference to our Proxy Statement under the heading “Audit Matters — Relationship with Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm.”

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PART IV

1. Index to Financial Statements

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SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, the Registrant has duly caused this Report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

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POWER OF ATTORNEY AND SIGNATURES

By signing this Annual Report on Form 10-K below, I hereby appoint each of Martin B. Anstice and Douglas R. Bettinger, jointly and severally, as my attorney-in-fact to sign all amendments to this Form 10-K on my behalf, and to file this Form 10-K (including all exhibits and other related documents) with the Securities and Exchange Commission. I authorize each of my attorneys-in-fact to (1) appoint a substitute attorney-in-fact for himself and (2) perform any actions that he believes are necessary or appropriate to carry out the intention and purpose of this Power of Attorney. I ratify and confirm all lawful actions taken directly or indirectly by my attorneys-in-fact and by any properly appointed substitute attorneys-in-fact.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, this Report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the Registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.

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LAM RESEARCH CORPORATION

SCHEDULE II — VALUATION AND QUALIFYING ACCOUNTS

(in thousands)

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LAM RESEARCH CORPORATION

ANNUAL REPORT ON FORM 10-K

FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED JUNE 26, 2016

EXHIBIT INDEX

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