Applied Materials, Lam Research and KLA: Where the US Equipment Jobs Are
Applied Materials, Lam Research and KLA together have 1,806 active US job postings in our job index, out of 4,542 worldwide. Most fab coverage focuses on chipmakers such as Intel, TSMC and Samsung. This post looks at the equipment suppliers whose engineers design, install and support the tools inside those fabs.
US job postings by company
| Company | Active US postings | Worldwide | Largest US sites |
|---|---|---|---|
| Applied Materials | 896 | 2,008 | Santa Clara, CA (418); Austin, TX (191); Gloucester, MA (46) |
| Lam Research | 467 | 1,415 | Fremont, CA (183); Tualatin, OR (171); Livermore, CA (28) |
| KLA | 443 | 1,119 | Milpitas, CA (230); Ann Arbor, MI (59); Hillsboro, OR (24) |
Applied Materials accounts for about half of the three companies' US postings.
Applied Materials: Santa Clara and Austin
Applied Materials' largest posting category is semiconductor equipment engineering (286 US postings), followed by manufacturing and industrial engineering (109), technical program management (74) and process engineering (63). It also lists the most early-career positions of the three, with 80 US internship and new graduate postings. Beyond California and Texas, it has smaller groups of openings in Gloucester and Billerica, Massachusetts, Kalispell, Montana, and near customer fabs in Arizona, Oregon and Idaho.
Lam Research: Fremont and Oregon
Lam's US postings are split almost evenly between Fremont, California and Tualatin, Oregon. Equipment engineering leads (174), followed by technical program management (59) and process engineering (36). Field locations include Austin, Hillsboro, Phoenix, Chandler, Boise and Manassas, Virginia. For all openings in the state, see semiconductor jobs in Oregon.
KLA: Milpitas and Ann Arbor
KLA has a different mix. Alongside equipment engineering (151), it lists applications and field application engineering (48), hardware systems engineering (47) and semiconductor software (33). These reflect its inspection and metrology systems, which combine optics, algorithms and software. Ann Arbor, Michigan is its second largest US site.
Field service and installation positions
Field service, customer engineer and installation titles appear at all three: 51 at Applied Materials, 37 at Lam Research and 46 at KLA. These postings are usually tied to customer fab locations in Arizona, Texas, Oregon, Idaho and New York rather than to company headquarters.
Published pay
Among US postings that include base pay, the median starting point of the published salary range is $120,000 at Applied Materials (704 postings), $117,800 at KLA (333) and $114,000 at Lam Research (189). Published ranges are wide, and the top of each range varies more than the minimum.
Explore current openings at Applied Materials, Lam Research and KLA, including 1,806 active US job postings across equipment engineering, process engineering, field service, applications and related technical roles. You can also view all equipment engineering positions. For fab hiring by state, see US fab hiring: where the process and equipment jobs are.
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Job counts and published salaries are from our job index as of October 23, 2026. Active, verified job postings; evergreen talent pools excluded. Field service counts are based on job titles.