1 Small Cap Chip Stock Up Nearly 200% This Year -- Is It Still a Buy?

Metrology -- jargon for the science of measurement -- has been a white-hot segment of the semiconductor industry. There's a good reason. Developing and manufacturing chips is getting increasingly complex and expensive. Metrology is a critical quality control step that can boost manufacturing efficiency and thus boost profit margins for the companies involved in making advanced semiconductors. 

Enter Camtek (NASDAQ: CAMT), a tiny Israeli-based metrology equipment stock that's up over 180% so far in 2023 alone. With metrology and related manufacturing process control equipment expected to be a high-growth business in the coming years, is it too late to hop aboard the Camtek train?  

Semiconductor manufacturing equipment requires deep experience in physics and chemistry and really deep pockets. As such, this critical choke point in the world of chips and computing technology has consolidated around what I call the "fab five," by far the five largest specialists in chip manufacturing equipment: Applied Materials, ASML Holding, Lam Research, Tokyo Electron, and the dominating force in metrology, KLA Corp (NASDAQ: KLAC).

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Source Fool.com