Applied Materials (AMAT) Shares Fall 7% by Noon ET (4 p.m. UTC) Tuesday, Oct. 13

Applied Materials shares fell 7% by noon ET (4 p.m. UTC) Tuesday, Oct. 13, as the semiconductor equipment maker held its Investor Day presentation during SEMICON West in San Francisco.

The presentation focused on Applied Materials’ opportunity in the growing optical inspection market. It also made the case that artificial intelligence demand could support the company’s business.

Applied Materials reported record fiscal third-quarter revenue of $9.115 billion for the period ended July 26, up 25% from $7.302 billion a year earlier. The company’s fiscal fourth-quarter revenue forecast is about $10.25 billion, with a range of plus or minus $500 million.

The company has reported its strongest demand in dynamic random-access memory, leading-edge foundry and logic, and advanced packaging. Those areas are central to producing advanced chips and memory used in expanding AI infrastructure.

Applied Materials is also working with semiconductor and memory companies at its EPIC Center on technologies for AI systems. The company has expanded EPIC work with Kioxia on AI memory technologies, including new memory structures, multichip stacking and advanced packaging.

The Investor Day presentation gave investors a broader view of how the company is positioning its semiconductor equipment business around inspection, memory and AI-related manufacturing needs.