NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) saw its shares drop over 5% in Q1 2026 amid geopolitical tensions and concerns over a potential slowdown in AI infrastructure spending, despite strong demand for its GPUs and Blackwell chips from major tech firms. In contrast, competitors Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT) and Lam Research Corporation (LRCX) capitalized on the AI boom; AMAT’s shares increased by 33%, while LRCX rose by 24.8% in the same period.
Applied Materials expects Q2 fiscal 2026 revenues of $7.65 billion, following first-quarter revenues of $7.01 billion. The company reported a non-GAAP gross margin of 49.1% and generated $1.69 billion in cash from operations. For the current and next year, AMAT anticipates earnings growth rates of 17.8% and 26.4%, respectively. Similarly, Lam Research is projecting revenues of around $5.7 billion for the March 2026 quarter, with an expected earnings growth rate of 26.6% for the current year.
