An Interview with David Lam

Ledbetter :   How will technology change education? Do you feel that it has already, or that it's not done enough to help the education system in this country?
Lam :   That is a very tough question to answer. I must say that I have not really got down to the classroom level. I still go visit M.I.T. every 2 years serving as the visiting committee, helping them evaluate the courses, the curriculum, and the research programs of the department where I graduated from. And I'm involved in some ways with San Jose State University as the advisor to the president. But I have not got out to the classroom level to answer that question.

One of the things I did notice is that the use of computers in school has become so common now. I think that's very good. Even my, in my son's high school, they have computer rooms for them to edit the newspaper and for them to do all kinds of things.

What I hope to see happen is that each and every company in Silicon Valley would set aside a small percentage of their profits, dedicated for community needs.

But schools tend to be always one or two steps behind industry. So, when, a lot of times when a student comes out of college, if the training requires a lot of more advanced equipment, most, in most cases, the schools may not have the equipment to use. Because it's just too new. So, all he can do as a professional getting into the job market, you use the basic training to learn new things when you get on the job. That's why I continue to emphasize learning is a lifelong thing. You just learn different things in different environments for different objectives.

Gemperlein :   Do you think the high tech community has done enough to help people who are poor and help social causes?
Lam :   In Silicon Valley? In general? Probably not. I hope that that will change, and I think it is changing in some ways for the better. Every time there is an economic downturn, and there are a number of them, because business seems to come in cycles, when there's a downturn and the source of funding to nonprofits to help kids and other community needs tend to be shut off.

What I hope to see happen is that each and every company in Silicon Valley would set aside a small percentage of their profits, dedicated for community needs. Using that as a source of funding for nonprofits. Many nonprofits today are struggling. Because the earlier reliance on government funding has stopped.

So now they have to turn to businesses for more help, and businesses are not quite ready to step up to the plate. But if a small percentage tied to net profit can be set aside for, in each company, for purpose of funding nonprofits, I think that would provide a little more steady, more predictable, more reliable and dependable source for nonprofits, including helping with poor children and poor families.

The reason why I want to have a fixed percentage is that the companies do not feel burdened that the same amount has to be given out in good times or bad. If you have more profit, you give out more; if you have less profit, you give out less. If you don't have any profit, you don't have to give anything. So there's not an additional burden on the company. Just some sharing with the community. That's what I'd like to see happen. It's not happening yet. Certainly not in any significant extent.

Ledbetter :   Are you surprised by how far technology has come? Or do you think we're a little farther behind than what you imagined?
Lam :   When I was in my grad school at M.I.T., when we'd do a computer program, we had to punch cards. And you have a stack of, I don't think you know what punch cards are. You're too young to know that. But, let me tell you. These are cards about this size and each and every line of your code will be translated into holes in that punch card that you literally have a special card to punch the holes in those cards. And then you go to the computer center, with a whole bunch of cards and hand them over to someone. And you come back in 2 days, if you're lucky, to get your program. Just imagine if you make a small mistake, and the program stops at the beginning. You just kick yourself because you have to wait at least 2 more days.
It was a lot of work, long hours, and those were the days when I thought that hard work will never kill you! When I was driving home at 9 o'clock, 10 o'clock, leaving the office. Gosh! What a great day it was!

And, of course, those guys who are very good in programming, they got ahead because they don't make too many mistakes. They got results right away. People like me have to try a few times. And, of course, today, it, you don't need that. Just correct the code right there. Very, very powerful machines. So, I have to say that I have been very impressed by the advances of technology.

Gemperlein :   What's the most fun you've ever had?
Lam :   I think growing Lam Research, particularly in the early days, was exhilarating. It was a lot of work, long hours, and those were the days when I thought that hard work will never kill you! When I was driving home at 9 o'clock, 10 o'clock, leaving the office. Gosh! What a great day it was! And you may be tired, obviously; we all would be. But I was just, get so excited, a lot of fun. Building a business, seeing it coming together. Of course, there were a lot of frustrations too, as I explained too earlier.

The other fun thing is seeing the children grow up. It was really a lot of fun. I have 2 boys. And seeing them grow up into a very responsible adults . .(has been) very, very rewarding.

Ledbetter :   Do you have hobbies? What do you do when you're not working?
Lam :   Actually, when the children were young, I had not had a lot of luxury besides work to develop a lot of hobbies. I used to enjoy playing racquet ball. And then I had a little car accident, very minor one, being hit from behind. But kind of whiplash, caused me a little bit of problem. So I stopped some of these vigorous sports. I am now picking up golf.
Gemperlein :   Can you tell us what you're working on now? Or what you're doing now?
Lam :   It's not been announced yet, Joyce. I'd like to keep it under wraps for a little longer.

Gemperlein: When will we know? How soon?

Lam: Probably early next year. I think. What I have found was that I had the opportunity in the last couple of years to visit with so many of these friends who I used to work with in the early days, when we would go to trade shows and go to industry conferences, and we would have a cup of coffee and a beer. Now many of them have risen up to running big companies.

And it's a lot of fun to sit down just to talk about the old times. But it also gave me an opportunity to get a sense of what's happening in the semiconductor equipment industry.

And I found some very exciting things are happening. The industry has matured from the 1980s when it was kind of a cottage industry to now, tens of billions of dollars as an industry. It has come of age. Not only that, you see companies which were very smaller in those days, including Lam Research, now are a billion dollar company. And being the number 2 largest semiconductor equipment company in the United States, and the top 5 in the world. And also, I saw that a certain consolidation happening. Companies combining to get more strength, and to take advantage of the infrastructure. To shed infrastructure of the company; by infrastructure I meant manufacturing, worldwide sales, global support, and that kind. Those things take a lot of money to build.

So, by doing that, either large company combining with small and so forth, that really is going to be another phase I see coming along in the next few years. So the industry has matured and it has also entered into a new phase of consolidation of some sorts.