Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) vs Lam Research Corporation (LRCX)

Alphabet Inc. is a holding company that wholly owns Google, one of the world’s largest internet businesses. Based in California, the company generates just under 90% of its revenue from Google Services, with advertising sales representing the clear majority. In addition to digital advertising, Google Services includes revenue from subscription offerings such as YouTube TV and YouTube Music, platform sales and in-app purchases through the Play Store, and hardware products including Chromebooks, Pixel smartphones, and smart home devices like Chromecast. Google Cloud contributes about 10% of Alphabet’s total revenue. The remainder comes from investments in emerging technologies and businesses, including self-driving cars through Waymo, health initiatives via Verily, and internet access services such as Google Fiber.

Lam Research Corp is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of semiconductor wafer fabrication equipment. The company specializes in deposition and etch technologies, which involve building layers on a semiconductor wafer and selectively removing patterns from each layer. Lam holds the leading market share in etch and ranks a clear second in deposition. It has greater exposure to memory chipmakers, particularly in DRAM and NAND. Its major customers include some of the world’s largest semiconductor companies, such as TSMC, Samsung, Intel, and Micron.