ASML Holding, Lam Research, KLA Corp and Applied Materials are among the world’s top suppliers of semiconductor manufacturing equipment.

  • Intel raised its 2026 capital expenditures forecast to $20 billion from $18 billion.
  • “We're also aggressively locking in tool purchase orders from our vendors, accelerating our clean room build-outs and actively securing supply of substrates and memory,” Intel CFO said.
  • However, the retail sentiment for AMSL, AMAT, KLAC, LRCX remained ‘bearish’ on Thursday.

Shares of major chip-equipment makers rose after Intel Corp. raised its full-year capital expenditure forecast, lifting sentiment across the sector.

ASML Holding stock rose nearly 1% in the overnight session ahead of Friday, while Lam Research shares gained 0.4%. KLA Corp’s and Applied Materials’ shares were marginally higher.

Intel raised its 2026 CapEx forecast to $20 billion and $18 billion and indicated that most of it would go towards chipmaking and related tools and memory chips.

Intel Bumps CapEx View

“Due to strong customer demand signals, we're raising our outlook for 2026 and now expect our CapEx to be more than $20 billion, which is up significantly versus our expectations entering the year,” Intel CFO David Zinsner said in the company’s earnings call on Thursday.

“We're also aggressively locking in tool purchase orders from our vendors, accelerating our clean room build-outs and actively securing supply of substrates and memory,” he said, adding that the CapEx in 2027 would be “significantly above” the estimated spending this year. 

“In fact, as we look back from 2021 through 2026, our total capital spending in tools and space in the U.S. is approaching $100 billion, significantly higher than any other semiconductor company over that time frame.”

Chipmaking Tool Firms In Focus

ASML Holding, Lam Research, KLA Corp and Applied Materials are among the world’s top suppliers of semiconductor manufacturing equipment. Their stocks have already climbed sharply this year, in sync with the booming demand for chips from AI data centers. AMAT and KLAC are the biggest gainers, with 120% and 80% year-to-date gains. 

However, on Stocktwits, the retail sentiment remained ‘bearish’ for AMAT, KLAC, ASML and LRXC. “INTC beat and raise. Knife down. Almost like $TSM and $ASML. Not looking good. Numbers are great! Reactions are piss poor,” a trader wrote.

Intel’s Q2 Recap

The government-backed chipmaker’s second-quarter revenue increased 25% to $16.1 billion and adjusted earnings per share came in at $0.42 per share. Wall Street analysts had anticipated $14.5 billion in revenue and an adjusted profit of $0.22 per share, as per Fiscal.ai.

The revenue expansion was largely driven by Intel’s data center operations, where sales soared 59% last quarter to $6.3 billion. "In data centers, the CPU is taking off," CEO Lip-Bu Tan said in an interview with Bloomberg. "Demand is outpacing our increasing supply, and so those are good problems to have." 

Intel’s third-quarter sales and profit forecasts also came in above expectations. INTC stock rose sharply initially but pared some of those gains in the overnight session. It was up 4.2% as of the last check.

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