KLA (KLAC) The Citigroup Global TMT Conference 2024 summary

Strategic leadership and organizational changes

• Transition of Oreste Donzella to Chief Strategy Officer reflects focus on advanced packaging and growth areas.

• Reorganization aligns with customer trends where back-end packaging increasingly resembles front-end processes.

Market outlook and business performance

• 2024 is a transition year with WFE expected in the mid-$90 billion range, slightly up from last year.

• Leading-edge investments, especially in N3 and anticipated N2, are key growth drivers.

• China remains stable, with its share expected to decrease as non-China customer growth accelerates.

• Memory spend recovery is expected next year, with DRAM leading and NAND also anticipated to grow.

Product and technology roadmap

• Advanced packaging revenue is projected to exceed $500 million this year, a significant increase from $100 million five years ago.

• Participation in all major industry inflections, including lithography, transistor architecture, and packaging, provides diversification.

• N2 pilot line investments begin late this year, with bulk investment expected next year.

• Higher sampling rates and new defect mechanisms at advanced nodes drive demand for inspection and metrology tools.