APPLIED MATERIALS INC /DE (AMAT)

Item 2.    Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

The following management’s discussion and analysis is provided in addition to the accompanying consolidated condensed financial statements and notes, and for a full understanding of our results of operations and financial condition should be read in conjunction with the consolidated condensed financial statements and notes included in this Form 10-Q and the financial statements and notes for the fiscal year ended October 26, 2025 contained in our Form 10-K filed on December 12, 2025.

This report contains forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Examples of forward-looking statements include those regarding our future financial or operating results, customer demand and spending, end-user demand, trends and outlooks in our markets and industries, cash flows and cash deployment strategies, declaration of dividends, share repurchases, business strategies and priorities, costs and cost controls, products, competitive positions, management’s plans and objectives for future operations, research and development, acquisitions, investments and divestitures, growth opportunities, restructuring and severance activities, backlog, working capital, liquidity, investment portfolio and policies, taxes, supply chain, manufacturing, properties, legal matters, claims and proceedings, and other statements that are not historical facts, as well as their underlying assumptions. Forward-looking statements may contain words such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “would,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “intend,” “potential” and “continue,” the negative of these terms, or other comparable terminology. All forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties and other important factors, including those discussed in Part II, Item 1A, “Risk Factors,” below and elsewhere in this report. These and many other factors could affect our future financial condition and operating results and could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations based on forward-looking statements made in this document or elsewhere by us or on our behalf. Forward-looking statements are based on management’s estimates, projections and expectations as of the date hereof, and we undertake no obligation to revise or update any such statements.

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Overview

We provide equipment, services and software to the semiconductor and related industries. Our customers include manufacturers of semiconductor wafers and chips and other electronic devices. Our customers’ products are used in a wide variety of products such as personal computing devices, mobile phones, artificial intelligence (AI) and data center servers, automobiles, connected devices, industrial applications and consumer electronics. Each of our segments is subject to variable industry conditions, as demand for equipment and services can change depending on supply and demand for chips and other electronic devices, as well as other factors, such as global economic, political and market conditions, and the nature and timing of technological advances in fabrication processes.

Our strategic priorities include developing products that help solve customers’ challenges at technology inflections, growing our service business, and expanding our served market opportunities in the semiconductor industry. Our long-term growth strategy requires continued development of new materials engineering capabilities, including products and platforms that enable expansion into new and adjacent markets. Our significant investments in research, development and engineering (RD&E) are intended to enable us to deliver new products and technologies before the emergence of strong demand, allowing customers to incorporate these products into their manufacturing plans during early-stage technology selection. We collaborate closely with our global customers to design systems and processes to meet their technical and production requirements.

Our future operating results depend to a considerable extent on our ability to maintain a competitive advantage in the equipment and service products we provide. Development cycles depend on whether the product is an enhancement of an existing product, which typically has a shorter development cycle, or a new product, which typically has a longer development cycle. Most of our existing products resulted from internal development activities and innovations involving new technologies, materials and processes. In certain instances, we acquire technologies, either in existing or new product areas, to complement our existing technology capabilities and to reduce time to market. Product development and manufacturing activities occur primarily in the United States, Europe, Israel, and Asia. Our portfolio of equipment and service products is highly technical and is sold primarily through a direct sales force.

We believe that it is critical to make substantial investments in RD&E to assure the availability of innovative technology that meets the current and projected requirements of our customers’ most advanced designs. We have invested and continue to invest in RD&E in order to continue to offer new products and technologies.

We operate in two reportable segments: Semiconductor Systems and Applied Global Services® (AGS). A summary of financial information for each reportable segment is found in Note 14 of Notes to Consolidated Condensed Financial Statements. A discussion of factors that could affect our operations is set forth under “Risk Factors” in Part II, Item 1A, which is incorporated herein by reference.

Our results are driven primarily by customer spending on capital equipment and services to support key technology transitions or changes in production volume in response to worldwide demand for semiconductors.

The Semiconductor Systems segment is comprised primarily of capital equipment used to fabricate semiconductor chips. Spending by semiconductor customers, which include companies that operate in the foundry, logic, memory, and other semiconductor chip markets, is driven by demand for products such as smartphones, mobile devices, personal computers (PC), servers for artificial intelligence (AI) and data centers, automobiles, clean energy, storage, and other products, and the nature and timing of technological advances in fabrication processes. The growth of data and emerging end-market drivers such as AI, the internet of things, robotics and smart vehicles are also creating the next wave of growth for the industry. As a result, products within the Semiconductor Systems segment are subject to significant changes in customer requirements, including transitions to smaller dimensions, increasingly complex chip architectures, new materials and an increasing number of applications. Spending can also depend on customer facility readiness and timeline for installation of capital equipment at customer sites. Development efforts are focused on solving customers’ key technical challenges in patterning, transistor, interconnect, process control, and packaging performance.

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The AGS segment provides services, spares and factory automation software to customer fabrication plants globally to help customers optimize performance of our large, global installed base of semiconductor and other products. Demand for AGS’ service and spares is driven by our large and growing installed base of manufacturing systems, and customers’ needs to shorten ramp times, improve system performance, and optimize factory output and operating costs. Industry conditions that affect AGS’ sales of spares and services are primarily characterized by changes in semiconductor manufacturers’ wafer starts and utilization rates, growth of the installed base of equipment and growing service intensity of newer tools. Our strategy is to continue to shift the AGS’ service and spares business to a subscription agreement model, improving customer factory performance and optimizing operating costs, and providing us a more predictable revenue stream.

Effective the first quarter of fiscal 2026, we have moved our 200 millimeter (200mm) equipment business from our AGS segment to our Semiconductor Systems segment. We made this change in order to increase our operational efficiency and consolidate the reporting of our 200mm equipment with the reporting of our other capital equipment used to fabricate semiconductor chips in our Semiconductor Systems segment. In addition, effective in the first quarter of fiscal 2026, we are fully allocating corporate support costs to our reportable segments. Prior-period segment balances have been recast to conform to the current-year presentation.

The Other category includes revenues, costs of products and operating expenses from other operating segments that do not meet the requirements for a reportable segment. We do not allocate to our reportable segments charges associated with restructuring actions, such as employee severance costs and asset impairment charges, unless the restructuring actions pertain to a specific reportable segment. Segment operating income also excludes interest income/expense and other financial charges and income taxes.

The United States government has implemented export regulations for U.S. semiconductor technology sold or provided to customers in China, which have limited our ability to provide certain products and services to customers in China, over the past several years. The U.S. government continues to issue new export licensing requirements, and additional updates and other requirements that have had the effect of further limiting our ability to provide certain products and services to customers outside the U.S., including in China. Also, the United States has announced changes to its trade policy, including increased tariffs on imports. These actions have caused substantial uncertainty and have resulted in retaliatory measures, including new tariffs on U.S. goods imposed by China and other countries. Some of these actions have been followed by announcements of limited exemptions and temporary pauses. For a description of these risks, see the risk factors entitled “Business and Industry Risks - Global trade issues and changes in and uncertainties with respect to trade policies and export regulations, including import and export license requirements, trade sanctions, tariffs and international trade disputes, have adversely impacted and could further adversely impact our business and operations, and reduce the competitiveness of our products and services relative to local and global competitors” and “Business and Industry Risks - We are exposed to risks and uncertainty related to changes in trade policies, and increased tariffs and trade disputes” in Part II, Item 1A, “Risk Factors.”

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Results of Operations

Fiscal 2026 and 2025 each contain 52 weeks and the first six months of fiscal 2026 and 2025 each contained 26 weeks.

The following table presents certain significant measurements for the periods presented:

[Excerpt truncated for page length; source filing is linked above.]

Item 7:      Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

Introduction

Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations (MD&A) is intended to facilitate an understanding of our business and results of operations. This MD&A should be read in conjunction with our Consolidated Financial Statements and the accompanying Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included elsewhere in this Form 10-K. The following discussion contains forward-looking statements and should also be read in conjunction with the cautionary statement set forth at the beginning of this Form 10-K.

The following section generally discusses 2025 and 2024 items and year-to-year comparisons between 2025 and 2024. Discussions of 2024 items and year-to-year comparisons between 2024 and 2023 that are not included in this Form 10-K can be found in “Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Part II, Item 7 of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended October 27, 2024, filed on December 13, 2024.

Overview

We provide equipment, services and software to the semiconductor and related industries. Our customers include manufacturers of semiconductor wafers and chips and other electronic devices. Our customers’ products are used in a wide variety of products such as personal computing devices, mobile phones, artificial intelligence (AI) and data center servers, automobiles, connected devices, industrial applications and consumer electronics. Each of our segments is subject to variable industry conditions, as demand for equipment and services can change depending on supply and demand for chips and other electronic devices, as well as other factors, such as global economic, political and market conditions, and the nature and timing of technological advances in fabrication processes.

Our strategic priorities include developing products that help solve customers’ challenges at technology inflections, growing our service business, and expanding our served market opportunities in the semiconductor industry. Our long-term growth strategy requires continued development of new materials engineering capabilities, including products and platforms that enable expansion into new and adjacent markets. Our significant investments in research, development and engineering (RD&E) are intended to enable us to deliver new products and technologies before the emergence of strong demand, allowing customers to incorporate these products into their manufacturing plans during early-stage technology selection. We collaborate closely with our global customers to design systems and processes to meet their technical and production requirements.

Our future operating results depend to a considerable extent on our ability to maintain a competitive advantage in the equipment and service products we provide. Development cycles depend on whether the product is an enhancement of an existing product, which typically has a shorter development cycle, or a new product, which typically has a longer development cycle. Most of our existing products resulted from internal development activities and innovations involving new technologies, materials and processes. In certain instances, we acquire technologies, either in existing or new product areas, to complement our existing technology capabilities and to reduce time to market. Product development and manufacturing activities occur primarily in the United States, Europe, Israel, and Asia. Our portfolio of equipment and service products are highly technical and are sold primarily through a direct sales force.

We believe that it is critical to make substantial investments in RD&E to assure the availability of innovative technology that meets the current and projected requirements of our customers’ most advanced designs. We have and continue to invest in RD&E in order to continue to offer new products and technologies.

We operate in two reportable segments: Semiconductor Systems and Applied Global Services® (AGS). As of October 26, 2025, management no longer considers Display a significant operating segment for separate reporting purposes. The financial results of our other operating segments that do not meet the requirements for a reportable segment, including our Display operating segment, are included in Corporate and Other. Prior-year Corporate and Other balances have been recast to include Display financial results. A summary of financial information for each reportable segment is found in Note 15 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements. A discussion of factors that could affect our operations is set forth under “Risk Factors” in Part I, Item 1A, which is incorporated herein by reference.

Our results are driven primarily by customer spending on capital equipment and services to support key technology transitions or to increase production volume in response to worldwide demand for semiconductors.

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The Semiconductor Systems segment is comprised primarily of capital equipment used to fabricate semiconductor chips. Spending by semiconductor customers, which include companies that operate in the foundry, logic, memory, and other semiconductor chip markets, is driven by demand for products such as smartphones, mobile devices, personal computers (PC), servers for artificial intelligence (AI) and data centers, automobiles, clean energy, storage, and other products, and the nature and timing of technological advances in fabrication processes. The growth of data and emerging end-market drivers such as AI, the internet of things, robotics and smart vehicles are also creating the next wave of growth for the industry. As a result, products within the Semiconductor Systems segment are subject to significant changes in customer requirements, including transitions to smaller dimensions, increasingly complex chip architectures, new materials and an increasing number of applications. Spending can also depend on customer facility readiness and timeline for installation of capital equipment at customer sites. Development efforts are focused on solving customers’ key technical challenges in patterning, transistor, interconnect, process control, and packaging performance.

The AGS segment provides services, spares and factory automation software to customer fabrication plants globally to help customers optimize performance of our large, global installed base of semiconductor and other equipment. The AGS segment also includes 200 millimeter (200mm) and other equipment, which is shipped to many customers globally that serve the non-leading-edge end markets. Effective the first quarter of fiscal 2026, our 200mm equipment business will be moved to our Semiconductor Systems segment. Demand for AGS’ service and spares is driven by our large and growing installed base of manufacturing systems, and customers’ needs to shorten ramp times, improve system performance, and optimize factory output and operating costs. Industry conditions that affect AGS’ sales of spares and services are primarily characterized by changes in semiconductor manufacturers’ wafer starts and utilization rates, growth of the installed base of equipment and growing service intensity of newer tools. Our strategy is to continue to shift the AGS’ service and spares business to a subscription agreement model, improving customer factory performance and optimizing operating costs, and providing us a more predictable revenue stream.

The Corporate and Other category includes revenues and costs of product not included in our reportable segments, as well as certain operating expenses that are not allocated to our reportable segments and are managed separately at the corporate level. These operating expenses include costs for certain management, finance, legal, human resources, and RD&E functions performed at the corporate level; and unabsorbed information technology and occupancy. In addition, we do not allocate to our reportable segments charges associated with restructuring actions, such as employee severance costs and asset impairment charges, unless the restructuring actions pertain to a specific reportable segment.

The United States government has implemented export regulations for U.S. semiconductor technology sold or provided to customers in China, which have limited our ability to provide certain products and services to customers in China, over the past several years. The U.S. government continues to issue new export licensing requirements, and additional updates and other requirements that have had the effect of further limiting our ability to provide certain products and services to customers outside the U.S., including in China. Also, the United States has announced changes to its trade policy, including increased tariffs on imports. These actions have caused substantial uncertainty and have resulted in retaliatory measures, including new tariffs on U.S. goods imposed by China and other countries. Some of these actions have been followed by announcements of limited exemptions and temporary pauses. For a description of these risks, see the risk factors entitled “Business and Industry Risks - Global trade issues and changes in and uncertainties with respect to trade policies and export regulations, including import and export license requirements, trade sanctions, tariffs and international trade disputes, have adversely impacted and could further adversely impact our business and operations, and reduce the competitiveness of our products and services relative to local and global competitors” and “Business and Industry Risks - We are exposed to risks and uncertainty related to changes in trade policies, and increased tariffs and trade disputes ” in Part I, Item 1A, “Risk Factors.”

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Results of Operations

Our fiscal 2025 and 2024 each contained 52 weeks.

The following table presents certain significant measurements for the periods presented:

Net revenue by segment for the periods presented were as follows:

Net revenue for Semiconductor Systems by market for the periods presented were as follows:

Net revenue in fiscal 2025 increased as compared to the prior year. Gross margin increased primarily driven by higher net revenue, favorable changes in customer and product mix, an increase in average selling prices, and lower material and manufacturing costs.

Semiconductor Systems net revenue increased in fiscal

[Excerpt truncated for page length; the complete text is on the linked full-MD&A page.]