New York, Feb 19, 2026, 15:25 EST — Regular session
- Applied Materials shares fell about 0.9% in afternoon trade after a three-day run higher.
- The chip-equipment maker flagged a new NVIDIA collaboration on AI-accelerated chip manufacturing simulations; a filing also showed its CFO sold shares.
- Investors are watching two March conference appearances for fresh color on demand and margins.
Applied Materials, Inc. shares were down about 0.9% at $366 in afternoon trading on Thursday, with investors parsing a new collaboration with NVIDIA and an insider sale disclosed in a regulatory filing.
The move matters because Applied has become a bellwether for the chipmaking-equipment trade tied to AI data centers. When sentiment turns on “capex” — short for capital spending on factories and tools — suppliers like Applied can swing fast, even on light company news.
There is also a timing issue. Management is due to appear at investor conferences in early March, and traders often trim risk ahead of those sessions when guidance is still fresh and the stock is near recent highs.
Applied said it is working with NVIDIA to speed up simulation and “digital twin” work used in chip manufacturing. A digital twin is a virtual copy of a tool or factory that engineers use to test changes before touching hardware. The company said its Ginestra materials simulation software can run up to 10 times faster using NVIDIA AI infrastructure and accelerated libraries, and that some ACE+ simulation work can run up to 35 times faster. (Appliedmaterials)
Chip stocks were broadly weaker. NVIDIA shares were down about 0.6%, while the VanEck Semiconductor ETF fell about 1.1%, putting the sector on the back foot even as the broader market also eased. Traders have been watching higher oil prices and firm Treasury yields after Federal Reserve minutes signaled pushback against near-term easing. (Reuters)
A separate signal came from inside the company. A Form 4 filing showed finance chief Brice Hill sold 5,000 shares on Feb. 17 at an average price of $361.2124, a trade worth about $1.8 million, and reported owning 138,565 shares after the sale, including stock units scheduled to vest in 2026-2028. (Sec)
Applied also said this week that executives will take part in two “fireside chat” sessions at investor conferences. Dr. Prabu Raja, president of its Semiconductor Products Group, is scheduled to appear at Morgan Stanley’s Technology, Media & Telecom conference on March 2, and Hill is set for the Cantor Fitzgerald Global Technology & Industrial Growth conference on March 10. (Nasdaq)
The stock has been trading as a proxy for whether AI-driven demand is translating into steady orders for wafer-fab gear and advanced packaging tools. Applied sells systems that deposit and etch materials on silicon wafers — core steps in making chips — and its customers’ spending plans tend to drive the cycle.
In its latest quarterly update, Applied pointed to AI as a key driver of demand for leading-edge logic chips, high-bandwidth memory, and advanced packaging. CEO Gary Dickerson said “the acceleration of industry investments in AI computing” was lifting results, while analyst Timm Schulze-Melander said memory spending was “the primary growth driver in the near term,” according to a Reuters report. (Reuters)
Still, there are obvious ways this can go wrong. Chip equipment demand is cyclical, and customer spending can slip if end-demand cools, factories hit capacity constraints, or geopolitical rules curb shipments — and software partnerships do not automatically turn into tool orders or higher margins.
What investors watch next is March 2 and March 10, when Applied’s executives are expected to face detailed questions on second-half demand, customer spending plans and how AI-related projects are flowing into backlog and shipments.
