New York, June 17, 2026, 13:15 EDT
- Applied Materials was last seen at $606.53, up around 6.7%. Shares earlier hit an intraday high of $623.16.
- Citi bumped its AMAT price target up to $710 from $550. Analyst Atif Malik pointed to AI-led demand for chip equipment.
- Recent company headlines brought a second focus to smart-glasses optics in addition to the new tools aimed at advanced 3D chip production.
Applied Materials stock jumped Wednesday, with the chip-equipment maker rising after Citi lifted its price target. Investors also bought into firms linked to AI chip spending. Shares recently traded 6.7% higher at $606.53. The iShares Semiconductor ETF was up 3.3%.
The move is getting attention because the rally isn’t tied to a single product launch. Traders are making a wider bet that wafer fab equipment spending will keep going up as cloud players add more AI computing power.
Citi’s Atif Malik raised his price target for Applied Materials to $710 from $550 and kept a Buy, Barron’s said. Malik lifted targets on Lam Research and KLA as well. “The rise of agentic AI is driving a structural increase in NAND demand as memory requirements surge and DRAM supply tightens,” Malik said. NAND is flash storage that keeps data even when power goes out. DRAM is fast memory that processors use. Barron’s
Applied brought its own updates. The company rolled out SENZ, a visual system for AI smart glasses that puts waveguide optics, a light engine, sensors, vision correction and electronic dimming on the same platform. “We built this to help customers get to market faster,” said Paul Meissner, vice president and GM of Applied’s Photonics Platforms Business. Applied Materials
Applied Materials said Tuesday it signed a long-term joint development deal with EssilorLuxottica to build out augmented reality optics platforms. Augmented reality lets users see digital images layered onto the real world. “Scaling next-generation smart glasses will require deep collaboration across the technology ecosystem,” CEO Gary Dickerson said. Applied Materials
EssilorLuxottica is already at the front of the AI-glasses market thanks to its partnership with Meta selling Ray-Ban and Oakley smart glasses, Reuters reported. The story also said Applied supplies gear for making the thin material layers used in AR displays.
Semiconductor peers traded higher. Lam Research rose 4.2%. KLA moved up 1.5%. ASML was ahead 6.2%. The rally spread out to key equipment suppliers, not just Applied Materials.
Applied rolled out new deposition and selective etch systems Monday for advanced 3D chip structures. Deposition builds up thin material layers on wafers. Etching strips material with accuracy. “The biggest opportunities are increasingly found in materials engineering,” said Prabu Raja, who leads Applied’s Semiconductor Products Group. Applied Materials
Applied shares kept higher after the company delivered record fiscal Q2 revenue of $7.91 billion last month, a gain of 11% year over year. The firm guided fiscal Q3 sales to $8.95 billion, give or take $500 million. CFO Brice Hill said AI growth is “now in full force.” Applied Materials
Rally looks tied to bets on future spending. Applied’s filings mention export rules, tariffs, license delays, demand changes, and tech shift timing as possible risks. For smart glasses, it’s not clear if buyers will show up—good optics alone may not pull in consumers.
It’s a regular Wednesday trading session, but the week is shortened by the Juneteenth holiday. Nasdaq’s calendar puts the U.S. equity markets shut on Friday, June 19. That could leave volumes light before investors get their next look at whether AI chip-tool demand keeps beating forecasts.
