Artisan Focus Fund on Applied Materials, Inc.
Thesis
Applied Materials is held within Artisan's Compute Infrastructure theme. The fund sees AI infrastructure as a large and still-expanding capital formation cycle that is broadening demand from networks into semiconductors, compute, power and cooling. Semiconductor equipment exposure therefore provides a way to participate in the buildout as spending on advanced computing capacity rises.
“The opportunity expanded from networks into semiconductors, compute, power, cooling and AI infrastructure.”
Key risks
- Large capital formation cycles can include periods of excessive or uneconomic investment
- Rapid technological change can alter competitive positions