Applied Materials projected on Thursday that its second-quarter revenue and profit would exceed market expectations, as the company anticipates that growing demand for artificial intelligence processors and global memory shortages will boost sales of its chip manufacturing equipment. The rapid construction of AI infrastructure—a primary growth driver for Applied Materials—has absorbed a significant portion of global memory chip supply, increasing production capacity and further supporting the company's sales. Following the announcement, the company's stock surged more than 12% in after-hours trading.

The optimistic outlook from Applied Materials also lifted market sentiment for its industry peers. Shares of Lam Research and KLA rose nearly 3% each in after-hours trading.

According to disclosed figures, Applied Materials expects second-quarter sales to reach approximately $7.65 billion, plus or minus $500 million, compared with prior market expectations of $7.01 billion. In a statement, CEO Gary Dickerson noted, "Accelerating industry investment in AI computing is driving our performance." He added, "Demand for higher-performance and more energy-efficient chips is fueling rapid growth in leading-edge logic, high-bandwidth memory, and advanced packaging technologies."