New York, Feb 19, 2026, 15:25 EST — Regular session
- Applied Materials slipped roughly 0.9% in afternoon action, giving back some ground after climbing for three straight sessions.
- The chip-equipment maker pointed to a fresh partnership with NVIDIA on AI-driven chip manufacturing simulations, while a filing revealed its CFO unloaded shares.
- All eyes on those two March conferences—investors are scanning for any new hints about demand and margins.
Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. slid roughly 0.9% to $366 during Thursday afternoon trade, as the market digested news of a fresh NVIDIA partnership along with word of an insider stock sale revealed in a filing.
This shift is significant: Applied now stands as a bellwether for chip equipment makers linked to AI data centers. When the mood shifts on “capex”—meaning capital spending on plants and gear—names like Applied can see sharp moves, sometimes triggered by only minor headlines.
Timing’s a factor here, too. Management is set to speak at investor conferences in early March. With guidance still recent and the stock hovering near highs, traders tend to cut risk before those events.
Applied said it’s teaming up with NVIDIA to boost the speed of simulation and “digital twin” processes in chip manufacturing. Digital twins—a virtual replica of a tool or entire factory—let engineers try out tweaks without touching the physical hardware. According to the company, its Ginestra materials simulation software now runs up to 10 times faster when tapping NVIDIA’s AI infrastructure and libraries. Certain ACE+ simulations? As much as 35 times faster, Applied added. Appliedmaterials
Chip names slid across the board. NVIDIA dropped roughly 0.6%, and the VanEck Semiconductor ETF slipped 1.1%, leaving the group lagging as the broader indexes also lost ground. Traders pointed to sticky oil prices and steady Treasury yields, especially after Fed minutes showed resistance to rate cuts in the near term.
There was another indicator—this one from within the company. A Form 4 filing revealed finance chief Brice Hill offloaded 5,000 shares on Feb. 17, fetching an average price of $361.2124 per share. The trade totaled roughly $1.8 million. Afterward, Hill reported holding 138,565 shares, a figure that includes stock units set to vest between 2026 and 2028.
Applied this week announced execs will join two upcoming “fireside chat” sessions at investor conferences. Dr. Prabu Raja, who heads the Semiconductor Products Group, is slated for Morgan Stanley’s Technology, Media & Telecom conference on March 2. CEO Hill, meanwhile, will speak at Cantor Fitzgerald’s Global Technology & Industrial Growth event on March 10. Nasdaq
The stock’s been standing in as a kind of barometer for AI-fueled demand making its way into consistent orders for wafer-fab equipment and advanced packaging tools. Applied’s gear handles material deposits and etching on silicon wafers, fundamental to chip manufacturing. How much its customers plan to spend usually sets the tone for the broader cycle.
Applied’s quarterly update flagged AI as fueling appetite for cutting-edge logic chips, high-bandwidth memory, and newer packaging tech. CEO Gary Dickerson called out “the acceleration of industry investments in AI computing” as a boost for the quarter. Timm Schulze-Melander, an analyst, described memory spending as “the primary growth driver in the near term,” Reuters reported. Reuters
But plenty could go awry. Demand for chip equipment tends to swing with the cycle, and if end-demand softens, customers might pull back. Factories could max out capacity, or new geopolitical restrictions might choke off shipments. And just because there’s a software partnership doesn’t mean more tool orders or fatter margins will follow.
Investors now have their sights set on March 2 and March 10. On those dates, Applied’s management is likely to field pointed questions about demand for the back half of the year, customer budgets, and the extent to which AI projects are showing up in backlog and shipments.
