Demand for wafer fab equipment has been proliferating in recent years, which is why fab toolmakers' revenues have also been setting records. As it turns out, last year, ASML became the world's largest maker of fab tools, dethroning Applied Materials, which was a leader for decades, as observed by analyst Dan Nystedt. While this is hardly competition and there are several reasons why ASML came first, it is a remarkable turn of events.
ASML earned $29.83 billion in calendar 2023, whereas Applied's revenue achieved $26.52 billion, according to Nystedt. There are several things to keep in mind here. Firstly, ASML's financial year follows the calendar year, whereas Applied Materials's 2023 financial year ended October 29, 2023. This is why the analyst used the company's Q1 FY2024 results (which ended on January 28, 2024) for his calculations.
