Lam Research's stock plummeted 5.04% during intraday trading on Thursday, extending a sharp selloff in the semiconductor equipment sector.
The continued decline was driven by a global semiconductor sector rout triggered by Meta's announcement of its MetaCompute cloud business division, which plans to sell excess AI computing power externally. This development broke the prevailing computing power scarcity narrative and sparked panic over potential AI hardware demand oversaturation and peak capital expenditure.
The selloff reversed a pre-market rebound and spread contagion across the sector, reflecting broad-based pressure despite multiple investment banks maintaining elevated target prices for the company.