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Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) generates its primary revenue by designing, developing, manufacturing, and selling the complex materials engineering tools, specialized fabrication equipment, spare parts, and advanced factory automation software that global customers rely upon to produce modern semiconductor integrated circuits.
It recently introduced six new manufacturing systems designed specifically for advanced three-dimensional chip architectures and high-bandwidth memory, and it expanded its active engagements by adding the University of California, Berkeley, to its academic research platform.
Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) primarily earns its revenue by developing, manufacturing, and distributing advanced graphics processing units (GPUs), specialized networking hardware, cloud gaming services, and comprehensive computational platforms designed specifically for high-performance gaming systems, professional visualization applications, automotive infotainment, and modern enterprise data centers.
It recently announced a $150 billion share repurchase authorization increase, and it finalized a commercial supply agreement to deliver two million graphics processing units and related computational models to Amazon.
Revenue serves as a core financial metric that helps individual investors easily track the total volume of money a given business brings in during a specific period before any operating expenses are deducted. This metric reveals whether an organization is successfully attracting customers and growing its overall business volume over time.
Data source: Financial Modeling Prep. Data as of Sept. 21, 2026.
Applied Materials and Nvidia have benefited massively from the artificial intelligence boom, as their revenue trajectories reveal. Even so, their different growth trends illustrate their unique roles in the AI ecosystem.
Applied Materials acts as a picks-and-shovels enabler across diverse chipmakers, providing tools used in various steps of the microchip manufacturing process, such as metrology and inspection systems to ensure chips are defect-free. As a result, its revenue growth is slower, though its steady upward ascent is reflective of the tremendous expansion of the AI market. The company is enjoying high-margin equipment growth, particularly in the last few quarters.
Nvidia's revenue is compounding at staggering triple-digit rates. Its success is driven by immediate end-market high-margin hardware and software sales. Its outsized revenue ascent is evidence of the popularity of its market-leading GPUs. The fact that its sales continue to grow rapidly points to how much demand exists for its semiconductor chips in AI data centers. With the global data center buildout expected to rise in the coming years, both Applied Materials and Nvidia are poised to see their current revenue trends continue to expand.
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Robert Izquierdo has positions in Amazon and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon, Applied Materials, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Applied Materials vs. Nvidia: What Revenue Trends Reveal About These Artificial Intelligence Companies was originally published by The Motley Fool
