Investing.com -- Applied Materials shares are bid 6% higher in premarket trading ahead of Thursday's open, after CEO Gary Dickerson told Nikkei Asia that chipmakers are now sharing equipment demand outlooks stretching two years or more into the future, with some providing visibility as far as 2030.

As the world's largest supplier of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, Applied Materials stands as the most direct public-market beneficiary of any sustained expansion in chipmaker capital spending. The company carries a market capitalization of approximately $453 billion, and its prior session close of $570.50 already reflected a one-year gain of 188% from its 52-week low of $154.47.

"Chipmakers are sharing their equipment demand outlooks for two years or more to ensure their capacity expansions proceed smoothly," Dickerson said in the Nikkei Asia interview published Thursday. That level of advance planning, he argued, gives equipment makers like Applied Materials the confidence to ramp manufacturing capacity without the stop-start uncertainty that has historically plagued the semiconductor cycle.

The remarks carry particular weight given the sector's recent turbulence. On July 2, chip equipment names suffered steep declines on concerns about NAND oversupply and potential capital expenditure deferrals, with KLA falling 11.6%, Lam Research dropping 10.2%, and Teradyne losing 13.7% in a single session. Dickerson's bullish multi-year framing directly counters that narrative, suggesting the AI-driven investment cycle has structural durability rather than being a demand pull-forward that risks an abrupt reversal.

The broader industry data supports that view. Susquehanna raised its wafer fab equipment market forecast to $250 billion by 2028, a 20% increase from prior estimates, citing AI capital spending and a tightening memory supply environment. The firm also lifted price targets on peers including Advanced Energy Industries (NASDAQ: AEIS), Lam Research (NASDAQ: LRCX), and KLA Corporation (NASDAQ: KLAC), according to a report cited by MarketBeat via Yahoo Finance on July 6. SemiAnalysis projects cumulative AI infrastructure spending of $11.1 trillion between 2024 and 2029, a figure that, if accurate, would sustain equipment demand well beyond any single budget cycle.

In addition to Dickerson's bullish comments, two analyst price target hikes this morning are boosting sentiment. TD Cowen raised its price target on Applied Materials to $700, while Mizuho raised its target to $650.

Applied Materials' own recent financials reinforce the bullish setup. In its fiscal second quarter of 2026, reported May 14, the company posted EPS of $2.86, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by nearly 7%, while revenue came in at $7.91 billion against a $7.68 billion forecast. Those results helped anchor sell-side confidence heading into the next report.

Analysts have submitted 25 upward EPS revisions for the company's upcoming fiscal third-quarter report, with zero downward revisions over the past 90 days, according to data from Investing.com. Consensus now sits at $3.39 in EPS and $8.94 billion in revenue for that print, scheduled for August 13 after the close. The uniform upward revision trend, combined with Dickerson's comments today, suggests the sell side sees the multi-year demand narrative as increasingly well-supported by customer behavior rather than just management optimism.

For investors, the August 13 earnings call will be the next critical test. Beyond the quarterly numbers, the market will be listening for any additional granularity on the multi-year visibility Dickerson described, including whether specific customers have formalized capacity expansion commitments and how Applied Materials plans to deploy capital to meet that demand. Any commentary on export controls and their effect on customer planning horizons in Asia will also draw scrutiny, given the company's significant exposure to the region.

AMAT remains 18% below its 52-week high of $739.67, leaving meaningful room for recovery if the multi-year demand thesis continues to gain credibility with investors.