January 24, 2019
Dear Fellow Shareholders:
We
invite you to attend Applied Materials 2019 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, which will be held on Thursday, March 7, 2019, at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time at our corporate offices at 3050 Bowers Avenue, Building 1, Santa Clara,
California 95054.
This years proxy statement reflects our continued focus on our strategy, an engaged and effective Board, sound
corporate governance and executive compensation practices, and regular dialogue with and responsiveness to our shareholders.
Financial Performance and Business Strategy
Fiscal 2018 marked Applied Materials third consecutive year of record financial performance. We delivered double-digit revenue growth across all of our segments, despite challenging market conditions in the second half of the
year. We are confident that longer-term growth drivers in both semiconductor and display remain firmly in place and will continue to create great opportunities for Applied Materials.
As more industries become increasingly dependent on technology and data to define their futures, Applieds core wafer fabrication equipment
market is poised to be structurally larger and less volatile than it was in the past. We have also expanded our product portfolio to better address major technology inflections.
As we enter 2019, Applied is focused on expanding our role in the A.I.-Big Data era. Across the Company, we
are taking a long-term perspective and will continue to prioritize our spending towards R&D to enable major technology inflections for our customers and drive growth and shareholder value.
Shareholder Engagement
We
are committed to effective corporate governance that is informed by our shareholders, promotes the long-term interests of our shareholders, and strengthens Board and management accountability.
We have a robust shareholder outreach program that focuses on governance, compensation, environmental and sustainability issues of interest to our
shareholders. The outreach is a recurring, year-round effort, led by a cross-functional team that includes members of our Investor Relations, Global Rewards, Diversity and Inclusion, Environmental Health and Safety and Legal functions, with
participation of the Chairman of the Board where appropriate.
In response to shareholder feedback, in September 2018, we published our
first Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Report, which highlights our D&I strategy, practices and goals, and provides key diversity data, including the gender and ethnic composition of our workforce. The publication of this report reflects the
importance of this issue to Applied and the valuable input that we received from our shareholders.
Thank you for your
continued investment in and support of Applied Materials.
Sincerely,
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Thomas J. Iannotti
Chairman of the Board |
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Gary E. Dickerson
President and Chief Executive Officer |
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3050 Bowers Avenue
Santa Clara, California 95054 Phone:
(408) 727-5555 |
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Mailing Address:
Applied Materials, Inc. 3050 Bowers
Avenue P.O. Box 58039 Santa Clara, California 95052-8039 |