Wafer Fab Equipment, M&A Moves & The Lab 7 You've Never Heard Of

Are the Fab 5 wafer fab equipment companies — ASML, Applied Materials, Lam Research, Tokyo Electron, and KLA Corp — still worth buying at today's valuations? CSI breaks down 20 years of revenue data across the five companies that control roughly 70% of annual global fab equipment spending, and explain why 2026 and 2027 are shaping up to be record revenue years — with a potential speed bump in 2028 worth watching.

The conversation also covers the wave of creative M&A reshaping the equipment landscape: the Axcelis and Veeco merger nearing final approval,

Onto Innovation's strategic equity stake in X-ray imaging firm Rigaku, and Applied Materials' targeted acquisition of an advanced packaging segment from ASMPT.

But the most overlooked part of this episode is the introduction of the Lab 7 — a group of life science and laboratory capital equipment companies, including Thermo Fisher, Agilent, Bruker, and Revvity, that share surprising structural overlap with semiconductor supply chain investing.

CSI explains why these companies could serve as a diversification play for semiconductor-heavy portfolios, and why the two industries may begin to converge.

If you're wondering how to stay invested in the semiconductor supply chain without overconcentrating in a handful of names, this episode gives you a research-backed framework for thinking about it.

Topics covered:

- Fab 5 revenue breakdown and 20-year performance

- Is wafer fab equipment overpriced in 2026?

- Axcelis + Veeco merger update

- Onto Innovation & Rigaku X-ray partnership

- Applied Materials acquires ASMPT packaging segment

- Introducing the Lab 7: life science meets semiconductor

- Portfolio diversification beyond the semiconductor supply chain

- Semiconductor market cycle outlook through 2028 and beyond

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