** Shares of Applied Materials AMAT.O and Micron Technology MU.O gain after companies announce partnership to develop new dynamic random acess memory chips $(DRAM)$ chips for AI applications

** AMAT is up 1.6% and MU is up 3.2%, both on track for second consecutive session of gains

** "Teams from Applied Materials and Micron are collaborating on the development of next-generation materials, process technologies and architectures for advanced DRAM, HBM (high bandwidth memory), and NAND for AI applications," according to a statement on Tuesday

** AMAT is up 34% YTD while MU is up ~42% YTD vs NASDAQ Composite Index's .IXIC 2.4% decrease

(Reporting by Chibuike Oguh in New York)

((Email: Chibuike.Oguh@thomsonreuters.com; Phone: +332-219-1834; Reuters Messaging: chibuike.oguh.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))