SEMICONDUCTOR equipment maker Applied Materials forecast third-quarter results largely above Wall Street estimates on Thursday (May 16), indicating robust demand fuelled by an artificial intelligence (AI) boom.
The company has benefited from growing demand for wafer fabrication equipment, which are sophisticated and expensive machinery to make semiconductors, as its customers are investing heavily to produce AI chips.
A surge in the requirement of high-performance computing and data centres has also driven demand for memory semiconductors such as dynamic random access memory (Dram) and flash memory, helping chip tools suppliers.
Dram is used extensively in data centres, personal computers, smartphones and other computing devices.
Applied Materials expects third-quarter revenue of about US$6.65 billion, plus or minus US$400 million, compared with analysts’ estimates of US$6.58 billion, according to LSEG data.
The company forecast third-quarter adjusted profit per share to be between US$1.83 and US$2.19, compared with estimates of US$1.98.
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Santa Clara, California-based Applied Materials reported second-quarter revenue of US$6.65 billion, ahead of estimates of US$6.54 billion.
On an adjusted basis, the company earned US$2.09 per share, compared with estimates of US$1.99. REUTERS
