Applied Materials Showcases Fast-Ramping Products for Semiconductor, Display Industries

Applied Materials, Inc. hosted its 2015 Analyst Meeting, providing an update to the company’s strategy for generating profitable growth. Applied executives showed how increasing R&D investments over the past several years are resulting in innovative new products that are enabling the key technology inflections in the semiconductor and display equipment industries.
 
In addition, the company introduced its 2018 financial model targeting non-GAAP earnings per share of $2.00, assuming global wafer fab equipment spending in the $33.5 billion range.
 
“The semiconductor and display industries are undergoing the most dramatic technology changes in decades and these are being driven by materials engineering, which is our core capability and strength,” said Gary Dickerson, president and CEO. “Applied has the right products at the right time and has never been in a better position to drive profitable growth.”
 
“We are executing well on our plan to grow revenue and market share while managing operating costs to increase profitability and cash returns to our shareholders,” Robert Halliday, SVP and CFO, said, Halliday said the company has already repurchased 25 million shares of Applied Materials common stock over the past two months under the $3 billion stock repurchase authorization announced in April 2015.
 
The changes Applied began making to its product portfolio two years ago are now delivering results with strong new product traction. The company’s leadership businesses in transistor and interconnect have experienced significant share gains, while increased investments in etch and CVD resulted in growth that is outpacing the market.
 
The company recently introduced two products, the Centris Sym3 Etch system and Olympia ALD system. Both are completely new equipment architectures, built from the ground up to provide customers with unprecedented capabilities in precision materials deposition and removal for building the most advanced logic and memory chip designs.
 
Another area of profitable growth for Applied is its service business. Applied is earning more of the revenue stream associated with servicing the installed base of its manufacturing tools, which is the largest in the world at 30,000 systems and growing.
 
In display, Applied’s technologies are enabling larger screen sizes, higher resolution and new form factors including curved displays. The company expects to grow its display business to more than $1 billion in revenue while increasing its addressable market to more than $3 billion over the next several years.