Company Overview

Applied Materials is one of the leading semiconductor equipment manufacturers in the world. The Santa Clara-based company provides all of the equipment and support services for major processes used in semiconductors. Those include wafer fabrication systems and services, ion implantation, dry etch, chemical vapor deposition, and physical vapor deposition. Major clients include Intel, Motorola, and Advanced Micro Devices. The company is also a partner in the joint venture Applied Komatsu Technology Inc., which makes thin-film transistor fabrication systems for flat panel displays. Sales in the Asia-Pacific region provide over 60 percent of the company's revenue. In 2002, it opened a major facility and technical training center in Shanghai, China, to help target revenue growth in that region. After a slump in the worldwide semiconductor industry in the early part of the decade, Applied Materials has rebounded considerably, albeit with a reduced workforce. To contribute to its regrowth, the company has acquired a number of companies in markets in which it previously hasn't had a presence-an example of this is its entry into atomic layer deposition equipment, brought on by its buyout of Torrex in 2004. It now focuses heavily on R&D to keep up with the ever-growing industry demand for ever-shrinking chips.