May 16 (Reuters) - Semiconductor equipment maker Applied

Materials ( AMAT ) forecast third-quarter revenue largely above

Wall Street estimates on Thursday, indicating robust demand

fueled by an artificial intelligence boom.

Applied Materials ( AMAT ) has benefited from growing demand for

wafer fabrication equipment, which are sophisticated and

expensive machinery to make semiconductors, as its customers are

investing heavily to produce AI chips.

A surge in the requirement of high-performance computing and

data centers has also driven demand for memory semiconductors

such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and flash memory,

helping chip tools suppliers.

DRAM is used extensively in data centers, personal

computers, smartphones and other computing devices.

Applied Materials ( AMAT ) expects third-quarter revenue of about

$6.65 billion, plus or minus $400 million, compared with

analysts' estimates of $6.58 billion, according to LSEG data.

The company forecast third-quarter adjusted profit per share

to be between $1.83 and $2.19, compared with estimates of $1.98.