DRAM made up 33% of Applied Materials’ chip-equipment revenue in its fiscal fourth quarter, up from 28% a year earlier, according to the 12 November release. On $7,996 million of Semiconductor Systems revenue, that is about $2.6 billion of DRAM equipment, against about $1.4 billion a year earlier, by our arithmetic from the rounded shares.
That is an increase of about 93%. Foundry and logic, still the largest customer group, fell to 58% of the segment, the lowest share in the recast series Applied published, which goes back to fiscal 2024.
Business Pill · The Memory Wall
A short explainer on why a faster AI chip is not faster AI when memory cannot keep up. It teaches the general idea only and does not discuss Applied Materials.
The key insight: As we read the segment table, memory gained at the expense of foundry and logic: DRAM rose to 33% of Applied’s chip-equipment revenue and foundry and logic fell to 58%, the lowest share in the recast series back to fiscal 2024.
Applied’s presentation recasts its segment table back to fiscal 2024. Foundry, logic and other was 70% of Semiconductor Systems revenue for fiscal 2024, then 69%, 66%, 69% and 66% across fiscal 2025, and 62%, 67%, 67% and 58% across fiscal 2026, per that table and the 2026 releases.
DRAM was 26% for fiscal 2024, then 27%, 27%, 22% and 28% across fiscal 2025, and 34%, 29%, 26% and 33% across fiscal 2026. Flash memory was 9% in the fourth quarter, up from 6% a year earlier.
Foundry, logic and other vs DRAM as a share of Applied Materials’ Semiconductor Systems revenue by quarter. Source: Q4 FY26 presentation (recast fiscal 2025) and 2026 earnings releases.Semiconductor Systems revenue mix, Q4 FY25 vs Q4 FY26. Dollar values are our arithmetic from the rounded shares and are approximate.
In Dollars
Applying the rounded shares to segment revenue, by our arithmetic: foundry and logic about $4.6 billion, up about 44% from about $3.2 billion; DRAM about $2.6 billion, up about 93%; flash about $720 million, up from about $290 million. Because the shares are rounded to whole points, each dollar figure could be off by up to about $40 million.
The presentation lists record DRAM and advanced packaging revenue for the quarter. Semiconductor Systems revenue as a whole rose 64%, to a record.
What Applied Says About Memory
The presentation groups DRAM and HBM, high-bandwidth memory, under “High-speed Memory” as one of three building blocks of AI hardware, with leading-edge foundry-logic and advanced packaging. It says those three areas are “expected to drive ~75% of WFE growth through 2030”.
It also says “Leading-edge foundry-logic and DRAM fabs running at full utilization, NAND not far behind”. For calendar 2026 Applied expects about 90% growth in advanced packaging.
The equipment numbers sit alongside the memory boom we have tracked: DRAM revenue up 369% in the third quarter in Counterpoint’s count, and Winbond laying out an EUV path after an NT$35 billion memory quarter.
The Structural Read
As we read the presentation, Applied ties its outlook to three areas, leading-edge foundry-logic, DRAM and HBM, and advanced packaging, which it expects to drive about 75% of equipment-market growth through 2030.
As we read the rounded shares, DRAM equipment revenue was about $2.6 billion, nearly double the year before, by our arithmetic.
Applied Materials Q4 FY2026 earnings presentation, 12 November 2026
“Leading-edge foundry-logic and DRAM fabs running at full utilization, NAND not far behind”
Three Implications
FOR MEMORY MAKERS’ SUPPLIERS DRAM was a third of Applied’s chip-equipment revenue, per the release.
FOR FOUNDRY AND LOGIC The share fell to 58%, though dollar revenue rose about 44% by our arithmetic.
FOR OUR COVERAGE We will report any DRAM, HBM or packaging split Applied gives in its call script or annual report.
The framework says: “HBM growth is outpacing accelerator demand, making memory the rate-limiting factor in the AI scaling equation.”
Applied’s release shows DRAM at 33% of its chip-equipment revenue, up from 28% a year earlier. The framework predates the results and does not discuss Applied.
What Is Not Established
Applied does not split DRAM from HBM equipment, or give advanced packaging revenue in dollars, in the release or presentation. Its segment shares are rounded to whole points, so our dollar figures are approximate. It does not name the DRAM customers behind the quarter.
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DRAM rose to 33% of Applied Materials’ chip-equipment revenue, about $2.6 billion and nearly double a year earlier by our arithmetic, while foundry and logic fell to 58%, its lowest share since at least fiscal 2024. The full results and the China share are in our companion pieces.
A note on sourcing. Segment revenue and customer-type shares come from Applied Materials’ 8-K earnings release of 12 November 2026, its 2026 releases and the recast segment table in its fourth-quarter presentation; memory and packaging statements from the presentation. Dollar values by customer type are our arithmetic from rounded shares and are approximate.
Gennaro Cuofano is a CRO and tech executive who has worked in AI since late 2015, starting with bringing NLP, natural-language generation, voice and chatbot products to the marketing industry. His background is in law and finance: he holds a Master's degree in Law and an International MBA with an emphasis on corporate finance (LUISS Business School and the University of San Diego, 2012), and worked as a financial analyst at a real-estate investment firm in San Diego and as an assistant controller. His work focuses on business model strategy, business engineering and, more broadly, structural analysis: how companies make money, read from their own filings. He created FourWeekMBA and leads research there and at The Business Engineer, his newsletter on AI and business strategy, with over 95,000 subscribers and more than 1,000 published analyses. His writing has also appeared on Entrepreneur (for example, How to Digitize a Family Business in Europe) and HackerNoon. Find him on LinkedIn and Substack. See how we source.
