How AI, Big Data and IoT Drive Growth for Applied Materials for 2020?

Artificial Intelligence has left no spot untouched when it comes to revolutionizing industries. Quite evidently, the technology has transformed how semiconductor industry performs and grows. This particular industry is the most bullish about adopting AI and understanding the significant impact it will have, reveals Accenture Semiconductor Technology Vision 2019 report. AI is at highest position among the disruptive technologies employed by chipmakers across the globe. Applied Materials is one such company that is employing AI along with other technologies for better growth prospects.

As the industry witnesses a great demand in semiconductors, Applied Materials, the American manufacturing company is expected to earn more profit owing to the rise of new-age technologies including AI, IoT, and Big Data. Also, the expected acquisition of Kokusai Electric by mid-2020 by the company will possibly increase the latter's market share by 20 percent in the semiconductor equipment market which is currently 18 percent.

The company has recently released its Q4 results for the 2019 fiscal which depicts that its business remains profitable and it is funding significantly into research and development for next-gen products. Applied Materials remains focused on working closely with customers to drive their technology roadmaps forward through its innovation in new-age technologies,

The president and CEO of Applied Materials, Gary E Dickerson said, "Looking beyond the cycle at the broader context for the electronics industry, it's important to recognize that we are in a period of transition as major new growth drivers emerge in the form of IoT, Big Data, and Artificial Intelligence." The company expects hundreds of billions of edge devices to be deployed, an explosion of data generation and new approaches to computing to sustainably process and create value from all the data that's available, over the next decade.

According to Gary, "AI and Big Data have the potential to transform every area of the economy and our lives. These inflections will also have a profound impact on the semiconductor industry. As we move from the age of general-purpose computing to demand specific approaches, new system architectures and new types of semiconductor devices are needed in the data center and at the Edge."

The major factor in the AI adoption rate in Applied materials is the quick realization of the improvements and power performance area and cost or PPAC of the foundational semiconductor technologies. The company, further, believes that to drive the PPAC roadmap in the future, a new playbook for semiconductor design and manufacturing is needed. The company has aligned its strategy and investments around this vision of the future.

A significant amount of Applied Materials investment is driven by growing demand for specialty nodes that serve the IoT, communications, automotive, power, and image sensor markets.

The CEO as well as the company, have a strong positive point of view about the opportunities the AI-Big Data era will create for the industry and Applied Materials. Therefore, the company is investing more than ever in new products and capabilities that will provide it a competitive edge for the future.

Daniel Durn, the CFO and Senior Vice President of Applied Materials, liked the prevailing but futuristic setup for Applied Materials as the company enters fiscal 2020. He further quoted that, "Our thesis surrounding IoT, Big Data, and AI is being validated throughout the ecosystem and our business outlook is transitioning from positive leading indicators to growing demand. The investments we're making in the new playbook are strengthening our product portfolio and driving new design wins that will serve us exceptionally well as the new nodes ramp across foundry logic, NAND, and DRAM. Our opportunities in the specialty nodes are also expanding. Our services business delivered a record year in 2019 and is on track for solid year-over-year growth in 2020."