Lam breaks ground on Oregon lab for AI chip R&D

Lam Research's new Oregon lab is part of a broader strategy to build an integrated 24/7 R&D network across the United States, Asia, and Europe. The company says its global labs already support more than one million experiments annually, and it plans to invest over $3 billion in the next five years to expand this infrastructure. The new Tualatin facility will add specialized capabilities in deposition, etch, materials science, and hardware validation, aiming to accelerate development from early discovery to fab deployment.

The expansion reflects the pressure that AI demand places on chip manufacturing. As chip architectures grow more complex, companies must screen new materials faster, validate process technologies earlier, and move designs from prototype to production with fewer delays. Lam's lab network is designed to let engineers work side-by-side with customers, including Intel, whose executive Naga Chandrasekaran welcomed closer collaboration on process development and new technology evaluation. Governor Tina Kotek and Senator Jeff Merkley also attended the groundbreaking, highlighting the project's importance to Oregon's semiconductor R&D ecosystem and its expected economic impact.