Increasingly focused on shareholder value, but still a great place to work - Supply Chain Business Manager Lam Research Employee Review

5.0
8 Jun 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

I've worked at several great tech companies in the valley before joining Lam Research. I had no real concept of Lam before I joined, but had heard of it through positive recommendations. Lam Research was said to be the most stable within a volatile semiconductor industry. The pay and work/life balance were OUTSTANDING. Even when layoffs occurred, huge bonuses and raises continued. While it wasn't a Google, Apple, or Amazon, the great pay more than made up for the old feel. Tim Archer seems to have ushered in an increased cost focus that should continue to reward shareholders in the near-term.

Cons

This isn't a con or critique of Lam, but a characteristic of the greater Silicon Valley. A Strong clique mentality exists within management that results in hiring/firing decisions often aren't always in the best interest of the organization.

Explore other reviews about Lam Research

5.0
14 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good work life balance and management

Cons

Challenge customer, leans towards Taiwanese colleague

2.0
11 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Pay is market rate or slightly higher. Smart new fresh grads join every year. They work hard.

Cons

Avoid Dielectric Etch Org as much as you can. Both product and process engineering. Constant Pressure, extreme long work hours, You are working 7/8 AM to 9/10PM, need to work on weekends because of lack of tool times. High level management yelling, screaming in meetings for anything trivial. If CVP wakes up not happy that day, someone will get yelled at in either large or small meetings for small things. THIS IS Dielectric Etch Culture at Lam. This place is a cesspool of nepotism. Even director levels are being yelled at constantly in meetings for various reasons, if he or she is not favored by the CVP. If a mediocre engineer or director who is liked by CVP, he will have much easy time cruising through with minimal effort and knowledge. ... If you are fresh PhD from top or mid tier schools, expect 80hr work weeks, and if you are not lucky, wait for 4 years to be promoted from lvl 3 to 4 level and stuck with no options to move around because you are stuck in Semiconductor equipment industry and other orgs in Lam won't take you. There are many junior engineers with excellent work ethic stuck doing the same things for half a decade without a move in their career. But if you are good at lip service, your life will be easier. Do not trust the general statement of Lam has good culture, it is very very dependent on which Org inside Lam.

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