Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT) and ASML Holding N.V. (ASML) are two prominent players in the semiconductor industry. AMAT provides material engineering solutions for semiconductor chips to electronic manufacturers of flat panel displays, solar photovoltaic cells, and modules. The company also supplies equipment to produce coatings for flexible electronics, packaging, and other applications. ASML develops, sells, and services advanced semiconductor equipment systems, focusing on lithography-related systems worldwide. It caters mainly to the makers of memory chips and logic chips.
Despite growing supply chain constraints worldwide, strong demand for semiconductor chips from consumer electronics, electric vehicles, and several other industries has allowed the semiconductor industry to witness a 32.4% year-over-year sales growth in February 2022. With considerable corporate investments and government support to ramp up production, the shortage is expected to ease next year.
