Applied Materials (AMAT) Hits New All-Time Highs: Still Time to Buy Stock in the AI Chip Equipment Leader? - Zacks Investment Research

Applied Materials (AMAT) has hit new all-time highs, reaching $739 per share, with a year-to-date gain of nearly 200%. This surge reflects growing investor confidence in the ongoing AI infrastructure ... Read original →

Applied Materials’ surge to $739 signals capital rotation from AI chip design to fabrication. Its dominance in 3nm logic, HBM DRAM, and advanced packaging equipment is triggering a tech-stack cascade—boosting EUV demand upstream and forcing cloud giants to pre-commit foundry capacity downstream. Geopolitical friction has inflated compliance costs: U.S. export controls compelled AMAT to build redundant lines across Taiwan, China; Korea; and the U.S., lifting capex by over 15%. Competitors like Tokyo Electron and ASML can’t match its full-stack offering but may counter with niche process modules. Over the next 18 months, surging AI-server DRAM bit demand (>40% YoY) will sustain AMAT’s valuation premium—unless post-election U.S. policy shifts chip equipment subsidies, risking model repricing.