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Applied Materials supplies machines that build chip structures on silicon wafers, check for manufacturing defects and package chips. Foundries and makers of logic and memory chips buy its equipment when they expand production or adopt new manufacturing technologies. These equipment sales, through Semiconductor Systems, generate most of the company’s revenue.
After equipment is installed, Applied Global Services (AGS) sells customers maintenance, spare parts and factory-automation software to keep machines performing and improve factory output. Customers pay through individual purchases and subscription service agreements, giving Applied a continuing business tied to equipment already in use.
Equipment demand depends on chipmakers’ investment budgets and technology changes; service and spare-parts demand also depends on how heavily factories run their equipment. A small group of customers supplies a substantial share of revenue, with two customers particularly important, and the customer base is concentrated in China, Taiwan and Korea. U.S. export controls require licenses for certain products and services supplied to some Chinese customers and restrict which business Applied can undertake.
The risk section is the longest, dullest part of the filing. This keeps only what can really hurt you: where it hits, how hard, when it plays out.
Every company claims an edge. Each one is checked against hard numbers like margins and returns: which hold, and which line gives way first.
Beyond this list, watch Samsung Electronics and SK hynix for memory-fab investment that supports Applied Materials’ demand, and Tokyo Electron for major equipment competition.
Lam Research and Applied Materials compete for memory and logic chipmakers’ spending on equipment that deposits films and etches wafers. Lam’s deposition and etch business is the part to watch for demand and competition in these shared markets.
KLA competes with Applied Materials for chipmakers’ purchases of tools that inspect and measure wafers and control manufacturing processes. Its Semiconductor Process Control results offer a focused view of this shared market, rather than its broader inspection businesses.
ASML shares Applied Materials’ chipmaker customers, selling systems that print patterns on silicon—lithography—and competing in applications supporting complex patterning. Adoption of its EUV systems by advanced logic and DRAM customers is a concrete sign of technology investment in customer groups that also buy Applied Materials’ tools.
TSMC pays Applied Materials for fabrication equipment to make chips from customers’ designs and develop successive leading-edge processes. Its investment in advanced manufacturing capacity and new processes is what to watch for Applied Materials’ equipment demand.
Ultra Clean depends on Applied Materials’ equipment production: it sells subsystems such as gas and fluid delivery assemblies to equipment makers, and Applied Materials accounted for 21.7% of its revenue in the year ended December 26, 2025. Watch its Products business for demand for the assemblies that go into chipmaking tools.
Ichor Holdings depends on equipment makers such as Applied Materials buying systems that deliver and control process gases and chemicals. Applied Materials is one of its largest customers, but Ichor generally sells through purchase orders without guaranteed minimum volumes, making those subsystem orders the useful signal to watch.
Axcelis Technologies and Applied Materials are the only manufacturers offering chipmakers a full range of ion implantation equipment, putting them head-to-head in this market. Ion implantation generated 98.2% of Axcelis’s 2025 revenue, so its results give a particularly focused view of that competition.
Applied Materials uses MKS components for vacuum, gas control and power in its wafer-processing equipment, tying MKS’s component sales to equipment production. Those components, rather than MKS’s broader industrial offerings, are the relevant business to watch.
Applied Materials uses Advanced Energy’s systems to turn facility electricity into precisely controlled power for semiconductor manufacturing equipment. Watch Advanced Energy’s Semiconductor Equipment business for this connection, rather than its data-center or other power markets.
Onto Innovation overlaps with Applied Materials in selling chipmakers tools and software that measure structures, inspect defects and control production. Its optical measurement and inspection business for chip fabrication and advanced packaging is the relevant window into this shared demand.
Nova competes with Applied Materials by selling chipmakers systems and software that measure dimensions, films, materials and chemicals to control production. Its measurements taken directly within manufacturing equipment are especially relevant to competition with Applied Materials’ metrology offerings.
ACM Research competes with Applied Materials for chipmakers’ purchases of film-deposition equipment, specifically PECVD, and coating-and-developing track tools, while also selling other wafer-processing and packaging equipment. Watch those overlapping product lines rather than treating all of ACM’s sales as direct competition.
Veeco competes with Applied Materials in selected equipment markets, including tools that heat wafers and deposit materials, rather than across the entire product range. Its laser-annealing systems for advanced logic manufacturing are a concrete product line to watch for this rivalry.
Entegris sells deposition materials, wafer-polishing consumables and purity solutions to fabs that use Applied Materials’ equipment, linking both businesses to chip production activity. Demand for its polishing slurries and pads offers a view of fab activity relevant to Applied Materials’ service and spare-parts demand.
Benchmark Electronics depends on Applied Materials’ manufacturing orders, providing manufacturing and precision metal-machining services to its largest customer, which accounted for 14% of 2025 sales. Watch its semiconductor capital-equipment business for the manufacturing demand tied to chipmaking tools.
Lam Research Corp earningsLRCX
Lam Research’s report will show how memory and logic chipmakers are spending on deposition and etch tools, markets where Lam and Applied Materials compete for orders.
Watch Lam Research’s deposition and etch business. If it grows, chipmakers are still buying tools in markets the two companies share, but Lam may also be winning more orders. If it contracts, demand in those markets may be softer, or Lam may be performing less well. Lam’s report alone cannot show whether Applied Materials won or lost orders; it gives a signal about shared demand, while the competitive outcome still has to be checked against Applied’s own results.
Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc. earningsUCTT
Ultra Clean’s Products business will show demand for gas and fluid delivery assemblies used in Applied Materials’ tools, with Applied accounting for 21.7% of Ultra Clean’s revenue in the year ended December 26, 2025.
Watch sales and demand in Ultra Clean’s Products business. If they strengthen, equipment makers are ordering more of these assemblies, which may mean Applied Materials’ production orders are reaching its suppliers; if they weaken, demand for tool production may be cooling. Ultra Clean also serves other customers, so its report cannot establish whether Applied’s orders specifically rose or fell. The takeaway is whether this supplier signal supports the view that demand for Applied’s equipment production is firm.
KLA Corporation earningsKLAC
KLA’s Semiconductor Process Control results will show chipmakers’ demand for inspection and measurement tools, a market where KLA and Applied Materials compete.
Watch KLA’s Semiconductor Process Control business. Growth would show that chipmakers are still funding inspection and measurement tools, but it could also mean KLA is winning more orders in areas that overlap with Applied Materials. A decline could signal weaker demand for those tools or a weaker product mix or competitive position at KLA. The report cannot prove that Applied gained or lost orders; it shows the strength of spending in the shared market and the competitive pressure Applied faces.
Entegris Inc earningsENTG
Demand for Entegris’s polishing materials will offer a read on fab activity, which helps show whether production may be supporting demand for Applied Materials’ services and spares.
Watch demand for Entegris’s polishing slurries and pads. Stronger demand would suggest fabs are running production more actively, which could support demand for services and spares on Applied Materials’ installed equipment; weaker demand would mean less support. This is not a direct measure of usage by Applied’s customers, so it cannot confirm a rise or fall in Applied’s service revenue. The conclusion is whether fab activity is providing stronger or weaker support for that business.
Axcelis Technologies Inc earningsACLS
Axcelis’s ion implantation results will show chipmakers’ purchases in a tool market where it competes head-to-head with Applied Materials.
Watch Axcelis’s ion implantation business. If it grows, chipmakers are still buying these tools, but Axcelis may also be taking orders from Applied Materials. If it declines, demand may be softening, or Applied may be winning more business. Ion implantation accounts for most of Axcelis’s revenue, making this a focused signal, but the report cannot separate market demand from market-share changes. The takeaway is whether Applied faces a larger market for these tools or stronger competitive pressure.
Veeco Instruments Inc earningsVECO
Veeco’s laser-annealing results will show demand for tools used in advanced logic manufacturing, where Veeco competes with Applied Materials.
Watch sales or demand for Veeco’s laser-annealing systems. If they strengthen, advanced logic makers are still buying these tools, but Veeco may also be winning orders Applied Materials could have pursued. If they weaken, demand may be falling, or Veeco may simply be competing less successfully. Veeco’s results alone cannot prove that Applied won orders; they show the direction of demand and competitive pressure in this specific market.
Applied Materials Inc earningsThis company
Chipmakers’ equipment spending drives Applied Materials’ largest business, and this report will show whether Semiconductor Systems keeps growing while services and spares continue to earn from fabs already using its tools.
Read Semiconductor Systems revenue alongside its operating margin, then look at Applied Global Services revenue. If equipment revenue grows and the margin holds, customer tool purchases are adding sales without being notably eroded by costs or a shift in product mix; if revenue weakens or the margin narrows, equipment demand or returns on those sales are under pressure. Growth in Applied Global Services would show that services and spares from the installed base can support the business when tool sales slow; weakness there too would leave revenue more dependent on new equipment orders. The conclusion is whether growth comes from both tool sales and the customers already using Applied’s equipment.
