Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT) vs NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA)

Applied Materials Inc. is the world’s largest manufacturer of semiconductor wafer fabrication equipment, with a broad portfolio covering nearly every segment of the WFE ecosystem. The company holds a leading market share in deposition technologies, which involve adding new material layers to semiconductor wafers. Applied Materials has greater exposure to general-purpose logic chips produced by integrated device manufacturers and foundries. Its customer base includes some of the world’s largest chipmakers, such as TSMC, Intel, and Samsung.

NVIDIA is a leading designer of graphics processing units (GPUs). Historically, GPUs were used to improve performance and user experience across computing platforms, especially in PC gaming. Over time, GPUs have become essential semiconductors for artificial intelligence, powering large language models and other advanced AI workloads. In addition to AI-focused GPUs, NVIDIA provides its CUDA software platform, which supports AI model development and training. The company is also expanding its data center networking solutions, helping connect GPUs to manage increasingly complex workloads.