Applied Materials vs. Intel: Examining Revenue Growth Trajectories of These Artificial Intelligence Companies
Robert Izquierdo, The Motley Fool
Sat, September 19, 2026 at 8:29 AM GMT+3 4 min read
Applied Materials: Consecutive Quarter-Over-Quarter Gains and Recent Revenue Acceleration
Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) primarily generates its revenue by designing, developing, manufacturing, and selling the critical fabrication equipment, specialized factory automation software, and materials engineering solutions utilized to produce integrated circuits for customers globally.
While launching multiple new hardware systems to address technical production challenges in advanced memory scaling, it formalized a joint development agreement for augmented reality optics and reported a 34% operating margin for the quarter ended July 26, 2026.
Intel: Maintaining a High Baseline While Navigating Corporate Restructuring
Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) primarily generates its revenue by designing, developing, and manufacturing commercial central processing units, discrete graphics processors, and edge computing components, alongside operating its independent wafer fabrication and advanced packaging services.
It finalized a large-scale public common stock offering and confirmed pending organizational workforce reductions within its data center operations, while reporting a 12% operating margin for the quarter ended June 27, 2026.
Why Quarterly Revenue Tracking Matters for Investors
Revenue establishes a fundamental baseline for investors seeking to measure the total incoming capital a business generates before any operating expenses, interest, or taxes are deducted. This metric reveals whether an organization is successfully attracting customers and growing its overall business volume over time.
Quarterly Revenue Comparison for Applied Materials and Intel
Data source: Company filings. Data as of Sept. 11, 2026.
Foolish Take
Applied Materials and Intel are benefiting from the artificial intelligence boom, although that didn't appear to be the case in 2025. In digging into their revenue trends, both had quarters last year that failed to experience year-over-year sales growth. Their trajectories in 2026 look far better.
Applied Materials ended 2025 with a year-over-year revenue decline. Since then, sales have taken off. The company's revenue of $9.1 billion in its fiscal third quarter, ended July 26, was a record high, and represented a strong 25% increase over the previous year. This helped Applied Materials achieve 43% growth in net income to $2.5 billion.
Intel struggled to capitalize on the arrival of AI until new CEO Lip-Bu Tan took over in 2025. Tan's turnaround efforts are bearing fruit in 2026. The veteran semiconductor company's $16.1 billion in its fiscal Q2, ended June 27, was a substantial 25% year-over-year jump in sales. However, unlike Applied Materials, Intel ended fiscal Q2 with a substantial net loss of $10.8 billion. This was due to a non-cash accounting charge tied to shares owed to the U.S. government under the CHIPS Act.
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Robert Izquierdo has positions in Intel. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Applied Materials and Intel. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Applied Materials vs. Intel: Examining Revenue Growth Trajectories of These Artificial Intelligence Companies was originally published by The Motley Fool
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