The Ledger ResearchPrivate

The Front Office

Scouting report · LRCX

Timothy M. Archer

  • President & CEO; director, LRCX since 2018-12src

Lam's CEO since December 2018; came over with Novellus in 2012

—thin record

Not ranked yet

Scouting sheet

as of 24 Sep 2026
Delivers guidance—no promises on the record yet
Answers the question—no call reviewed yet
Capital allocation—company not reviewed yet
Pay design73margin, strategic, individual, relative tsr, time only · 90.83% for · 0.53% of net income
Skin in the game—no holding or price on file
Age
59src
In the role
8 yr
Promises scored
0
Hit rate
—
Dodges / 100 answers
—
Airtime on calls
—
Every promise, oldest firstno scored promises yet

What to weigh

Watch 6

  • Sold about $57.0m of stock in the 12 months to 2026-09-24, under 10b5-1 plans, mostly option exercise-and-sell (203,300 option shares exercised, plus 50,000 held shares sold in December 2025) (adopted 2025-08-19 and 2026-02-24); 1,075,966 directly held shares (incl. unvested RSUs) reported after the last salesrc
  • CEO pay ratio 310:1; FY2025 total pay $28.3m, of which $24.1m in stock awardssrc
  • The CY2024 annual incentive funding factor (non-GAAP operating margin) came in at 250% of target, the program maximum; the committee sets the bonus metrics on the CEO's recommendation, except his own individual factorsrc
  • The only NEO in the closed executive retiree-medical plan: $810,000 obligation at 2025-06-29src
  • Operating bench turned over in 2026: long-time COO Patrick Lord retired 2026-03-06 and Sesha Varadarajan became EVP & COOsrc
  • Lam had not filed its 2026 proxy by 2026-09-24, so FY2026 pay, ownership and bio are not yet available; pay rows stop at FY2025src

In their favour 1

  • From the 2025/2027 grant, options were dropped and relative-TSR PRSU payouts are capped at 100% of target when absolute TSR is negativesrc

Career

  1. 2018 – now
    Lam Researchsrc
    President & CEO; director
    Since 2018-12-05
  2. 2018 – 2018
    Lam Researchsrc
    President & COO
    January to November 2018
  3. 2012 – 2018
    Lam Researchsrc
    EVP & COO
    Joined June 2012 when Lam acquired Novellus
  4. 2011 – 2012
    Novellus Systemssrc
    COO
    January 2011 to June 2012
  5. 2009 – 2011
    Novellus Systemssrc
    EVP, Worldwide Sales, Marketing and Customer Satisfaction
  6. 2008 – 2009
    Novellus Systemssrc
    EVP, PECVD and Electrofill Business Units
  7. 1994 – 2008
    Novellus Systemssrc
    Technology development and business roles, incl. senior director of technology, Novellus Systems Japan (1999-2001) and Electrofill BU (2001-2002)
    Start year derived from the proxy's '18 years at Novellus' ending June 2012; roles 2002-2008 are not itemised
  8. 1989 – 1994
    Tektronixsrc
    Process development for high-speed bipolar integrated circuits
    Proxy gives only the 1989 start; end year inferred from the Novellus start

Not located: Exact Tektronix-to-Novellus transition year and his Novellus titles 2002-2008 are not itemised in any source searched

Achievements

  • CEO of Lam since December 2018 after six years as its COO; has spent his whole career since 1994 at Novellus and Lamsrc
  • Lam's GAAP net income was $5.36bn in FY2025 and $7.27bn in FY2026 (year to 2026-06-28), up from $3.83bn in FY2024src
  • Beneficially owned 1,481,175 shares at 2025-09-05 (under 1% of the company), including 616,410 exercisable options and RSUs vesting within 60 dayssrc
  • Re-elected director with 99.50% of votes cast at the 2025-11-04 annual meetingsrc

Education

  • California Institute of Technology, BS Applied Physics (1989)src
  • Harvard Business School, Program for Management Development Managementsrc

Background

  • Family The 2025 proxy states no family relationships exist among any directors and executive officers, and no related-person transaction above $120,000 since the start of FY2025src
  • Boards Director of Johnson Controls International plc since March 2024 (compensation and talent development committee)src
  • Boards Serves on SEMI's International Board of Directors; chaired the National GEM Consortium (graduate engineering and science access nonprofit) 2020-2022src
  • Giving Supported Caltech's new undergraduate nanotechnology teaching laboratory, named for him and his wifesrc

The promise ledger

No promise on the record yet: the research routine has not scored this company's guidance.

Sources

10
  1. Filing Lam Research DEF 14A for the 2025 annual meeting (accession 0001140361-25-036012) · 2025-09-24
  2. Filing Lam Research 10-K for fiscal year ended 2026-06-28 (0000707549-26-000037), Information about our Executive Officers and signatures · 2026-08-07
  3. Filing Lam Research 8-K Items 5.02/5.03/5.07, 2025 annual meeting results (0000707549-25-000094) · 2025-11-06
  4. Filing Lam Research 8-K Item 5.02, COO Patrick Lord retires, Sesha Varadarajan named EVP & COO (0000707549-26-000012) · 2026-02-03
  5. Filing SEC XBRL companyconcept us-gaap/NetIncomeLoss, CIK 707549 (FY2025 10-K 0000707549-25-000075; FY2026 10-K 0000707549-26-000037) · 2026-08-07
  6. Filing Form 4, Timothy Archer (reporting CIK 1343600), exercise and sales of 2025-12-17 (0001343600-25-000006) · 2025-12-18
  7. Filing Form 4, Timothy Archer, exercise and sale of 2026-07-02 (0001343600-26-000009) · 2026-07-06
  8. Filing Form 4, Timothy Archer, exercise and sale of 2026-08-06 (0001343600-26-000011) · 2026-08-07
  9. Filing Form 4, Timothy Archer, exercise and sale of 2026-09-09 (0001343600-26-000013) · 2026-09-10
  10. Web search result WebSearch: Caltech giving news, 'The Archer Lab Bridges Education and Innovation in Nanotechnology' (Archer, BS APh '89) · 2026-09-24