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Applied Materials (AMAT) shares returned 143.9% in the twelve months ending October 5, 2026, a performance that far outpaced the S&P 500's 17.1% gain over the same period.
This surge was driven by chipmakers' increased demand for the manufacturing equipment Applied sells for advanced chips, a shift that management had signaled more than ten months before the stock's major run began.
During its fiscal Q4 2024 earnings call on November 14, 2024, Applied Materials management noted that the chip industry was moving toward energy-efficient computing.
This pivot laid the groundwork for the subsequent rise in artificial intelligence workloads, which require high-performance chips constrained by strict thermal and power limits.
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