New York, Feb 14, 2026, 12:06 EST — Market closed
- Applied Materials shares jumped Friday, with the company’s quarterly outlook topping forecasts as AI chip demand fueled gains.
- Chip-equipment stocks held their ground, but Nvidia and other AI leaders slipped.
- After the Presidents Day break, U.S. markets are back in action Tuesday. Nvidia’s results on Feb. 25, plus its GTC event in March, are shaping up as the sector’s key upcoming catalysts.
Applied Materials managed a rare gain Friday, bucking the nerves in AI trades. The chipmaking-tools company cited steady demand linked to data-center expansion.
This landed where it stings. Investors dumped “AI losers” — names seen as vulnerable to automation — but sorting out whether AI outlays are delivering immediate returns is still an open question.
U.S. markets are closed for the weekend and the Monday holiday, leaving the sector facing a split picture heading into next week. Orders for chipmaking equipment seem steady; still, the top AI stocks haven’t been performing.
Applied Materials (AMAT) surged nearly 8% to close at $354.91 Friday after touching $376 earlier in the session. For the second quarter, management is guiding for revenue around $7.65 billion, give or take $500 million, with adjusted earnings pegged at $2.64 per share, plus or minus 20 cents. CEO Gary Dickerson credited “the acceleration of industry investments in AI computing” for the upbeat view. “We expect a massive wafer fabrication equipment growth cycle over the next three years,” Morningstar’s William Kerwin noted. Reuters
Lam Research (LRCX) climbed 1.8% and KLA (KLAC) tacked on 0.9% as other chip-equipment names rallied. The iShares Semiconductor ETF also booked a 0.9% advance.
Nvidia (NVDA) lost 2.2% to finish at $182.81 Friday. Broadcom (AVGO) dipped 1.8%, while Meta META slipped 1.5%. Alphabet (GOOGL) declined 1.1%, with Microsoft (MSFT) barely moving, down 0.1%.
The Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.2% by the close on Friday, with tech names sagging and the S&P 500 just barely in the green—wrapping up a sluggish week for major U.S. indexes.
Wall Street traders have zeroed in on what’s being dubbed the “AI scare trade”—a scramble to offload shares in companies thought to be exposed to automation, not just in software but spreading to broader service sectors. Barclays equity strategist Emmanual Cau summed up the mood: investors gripped by fear, selling first and worrying about the fallout later, with many asking, “who is next.” Reuters
All eyes now turn to Nvidia, with its quarterly numbers set for release after the bell on Feb. 25. The market will be watching demand trends not just in GPUs, but throughout the broader data-center supply chain.
Nvidia’s GTC conference kicks off March 16–19 in San Jose. It’s the kind of flagship gathering that regularly rewires investor assumptions about future products and the speed of spend throughout the AI stack.
Still, chip-equipment demand can turn quickly. Should major cloud players cut capex, or if Nvidia’s guidance hints at inventory digestion among customers, that recent momentum for AI hardware stocks might stall—and the shift away from pricey tech names could keep going.
The calendar’s in play here as well: with U.S. markets shut on Monday for Presidents Day and reopening Tuesday, expect thinner liquidity and sharper swings once trading gets going again.
Once trading picks up again, investors are set to see if AI infrastructure stocks can hang onto Friday’s gains. Nvidia’s Feb. 25 report and the March 16 GTC keynote could either steady the sector or revive questions about the longevity of this AI spending surge.
