33 Most Important AI Companies You Should Pay Attention To

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13. Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 79

YTD Return as of August 1: 58%

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) provides equipment, services, and software for the semiconductor industry. One of the key businesses of the firm is the development, manufacture, and marketing of manufacturing equipment that is used to fabricate semiconductor chips. These chips are then used by firms across the world to develop their AI products. Some of the major customers of the firm include giants such as Intel, Samsung, and Apple, among others. The company has also made a name for itself in the storage market, offering packaging services for high-bandwidth memory (HBM). The surge in demand for HBMs as a result of increased AI data center development translates to an expected four-time increase in HBM packaging revenues for the firm this year when compared to last year.

Gary Dickerson, the CEO of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT), said during the second quarter earnings call that across all device types, the firm expected revenue from the advanced packaging product portfolio to grow to almost $1.7 billion this year. Looking further ahead, he noted that he saw opportunities for this business to double again as heterogeneous integration was more widely adopted beyond the AI data center.

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