Market Share
~20% overall equipment
Key Product
CVD, PVD, CMP, and ion implant systems
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Applied Materials is the world's largest semiconductor equipment company by revenue excluding lithography — ranking second overall behind ASML, which overtook it by total revenue in 2024 — supplying the CVD, PVD, CMP, and ion implantation systems used in nearly every chip manufacturing step. The company's tools are found in fabs run by TSMC, Samsung, Intel, SK Hynix, and Micron. Applied Materials generates roughly 20% of the global semiconductor equipment market. It has been at the center of US export control enforcement, with the Commerce Department requiring export licenses for its most advanced tools destined for China. The company also develops next-generation materials engineering solutions critical for gate-all-around (GAA) transistors at 2nm and below.
Connected companies
Tap a chip to trace that company's chain.
Critical path — raw silicon to deployment
The tightest single-source dependencies, in order.
RAW MATERIALS
Rare Earths (CN)
Neodymium, Dysprosium refined oxides
RAW MATERIALS
Germanium (CN)
Germanium metal and GeO₂ for SiGe epitaxy
RAW MATERIALS
Tungsten (CN)
Ammonium paratungstate (APT) and tungsten powder
EQUIPMENT
Applied Materials
CVD, PVD, CMP, and ion implant systems
FOUNDRIES
TSMC
CoWoS advanced packaging, N3/N2 logic
MEMORY (HBM)
CXMT
DDR4 and LPDDR4X DRAM (19nm class)
Export controls touching Applied Materials
U.S.–Netherlands–Japan Trilateral Chip Equipment Alignment (Jan 2023)
Following extensive diplomatic negotiations, the United States, the Netherlands, and Japan reached an informal multilateral agreement — announced on or around January 27, 2023 — to align their semiconductor equipment export control frameworks. The Netherlands subsequently imposed DUV licensing requirements on ASML (effective September 2023), and Japan expanded its controls to 23 categories of advanced fab equipment (effective July 2023). The trilateral alignment effectively closed the most significant loopholes in restricting China's access to the equipment needed for leading-edge chip production, since restrictions by any single ally could previously be circumvented through the others.
▲ 12 companies affected
U.S. Entity List: SMIC (Dec 2020)
The U.S. Department of Commerce added SMIC — China's largest foundry — to the Entity List on December 18, 2020, citing the risk that equipment and materials supplied to SMIC could be diverted to military end uses. The listing subjects exports of advanced semiconductor manufacturing tools destined for SMIC to a presumption-of-denial license review for items that could enable production at 10nm or below. Existing licenses for mature-node tooling were largely allowed to continue, keeping SMIC operational at 14nm/28nm nodes while freezing its path to sub-10nm leading-edge production.
▲ 9 companies affected
U.S. Entity List: YMTC (Dec 2022)
The U.S. Department of Commerce added YMTC — China's largest 3D NAND flash maker — to the Entity List on December 15, 2022. The action was motivated by concerns that YMTC had supplied NAND chips to Huawei in violation of U.S. restrictions, and by the broader goal of preventing YMTC from acquiring U.S.-origin equipment and technology needed to scale its 232-layer Xtacking NAND to volume production. Apple's plan to qualify YMTC chips as an iPhone supplier was halted following the listing.
▲ 6 companies affected
QWho supplies Applied Materials?
Applied Materials relies on 4 upstream suppliers across the AI chip supply chain.
Rare Earths (CN) (Dominant refined rare-earth supplier (Nd, Dy for precision equipment magnets)), Germanium (CN) (Dominant germanium producer for SiGe transistors and fiber-optic preforms), Tungsten (CN) (Dominant tungsten producer for chip metallization contacts and tooling), High-Purity Quartz (US) (Unique ultra-pure quartz deposits for fused-silica optics and quartz process chambers).
QWhat does Applied Materials make?
Largest semiconductor equipment maker by revenue
Key products CVD, PVD, CMP, and ion implant systems