Applied Materials Inc, the largest US supplier of semiconductor equipment, on Thursday gave sales and profit forecasts that far exceeded analysts’ estimates, fueled by soaring demand for artificial intelligence (AI) computing and memory chips.
Revenue would be approximately US$8.95 billion in the fiscal third quarter, which runs through July, Applied Materials said in a statement.
Analysts had estimated US$8.15 billion on average.
Earnings are expected to be about US$3.36 per share, excluding some items, compared with a projection of US$2.88.
Applied Materials customers such as Samsung Electronics Co and Micron Technology Inc are expanding manufacturing to cope with short supplies of memory chips.
