Markets can fluctuate but people still need groceries and other daily necessities. Marc’s Grocery Center — is now open to accredited investors and lets you tap into that demand. 

Why we think this deal stands out: 

• National tenants like Starbucks, AT&T, Great Clips, and Subway.
• Anchored by the most visited Marc’s location in the chain, driving consistent foot traffic.
• Built in 2018 and maintained to institutional standards.
• Value creation potential through leasing and parcelization strategies. 
• Located in the Cleveland MSA, a market with durable local demand.

Don’t miss your chance to diversify into necessity-based commercial real estate. 

Access Deal Details

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Saturday’s Bonus Story

AI Chips Can’t Exist Without These 2 Underrated Tech Giants

By Jeffrey Neal Johnson. Posted: 12/17/2025. 

Summary

• Applied Materials and Lam Research manufacture the specialized equipment needed to create next-generation logic and memory chips.
• These companies offer investors a stable entry point into the artificial intelligence sector through recurring revenue streams and consistent shareholder returns.
• The transition to complex new chip architectures creates a long-term growth opportunity for the leading suppliers of wafer fabrication equipment.

The stock market often fixates on a single question: Which chip designer will wear the crown in the artificial intelligence (AI) era? Will it be the current king, NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA), or a challenger like AMD (NASDAQ: AMD)? While that battle for market share makes for exciting headlines, it obscures a critical physical reality: no advanced chip can be produced without the highly specialized factory tools required to build it.

While designers fight for dominance, fabs (manufacturing plants) must buy equipment from a handful of suppliers regardless of which company’s name is stamped on the final processor. That dynamic creates a classic “picks-and-shovels” investment opportunity. Just as tool suppliers made reliable fortunes during the Gold Rush, the companies providing the essential infrastructure for sovereign AI clouds are positioned for steady, long-term growth.

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Industry estimates suggest that for every $100 billion invested in AI data-center infrastructure, roughly $8 billion flows directly into the Wafer Fab Equipment (WFE) market. With the WFE market expected to exceed $105 billion in calendar year 2025 and forecast to grow further in 2026, this sector offers a predictable revenue stream. Two giants stand out as indispensable to that ecosystem: Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT) and Lam Research (NASDAQ: LRCX).

The Technology Moat: Why These Two Are Indispensable

High-end chip manufacturing is not a commodity business; it is an oligopoly where specific tools are required for specific tasks. Fabs cannot simply swap out one machine for another. To evaluate the investment case, investors should understand the physical bottlenecks in modern computing that these companies solve.

Applied Materials: The Logic Leader

Applied Materials leads in materials engineering, a critical step for logic chips (processors) and advanced packaging. As chips become more powerful, managing heat and power becomes essential.

The industry is shifting to a new transistor architecture called Gate-All-Around (GAA) to improve power control at the 2-nanometer node and beyond. Applied provides several specialized tools needed to build these structures:

• Applied Centura Xtera Epi: Creates void-free epitaxial structures essential for transistor speed. Without this capability, transistor performance at advanced nodes would suffer.
• Kinex Hybrid Bonding: As companies stack chiplets to build more powerful processors, they face queue-time degradation: parts can degrade if they sit too long during processing. Kinex integrates cleaning, alignment, and bonding in a single vacuum-controlled environment, eliminating that problem and enabling the high-performance stacking essential for AI.

Lam Research: The Memory Specialist

While Applied Materials focuses on the computer’s brain, Lam Research dominates memory manufacturing.

AI models require massive amounts of fast memory — High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) — and high-density storage such as 3D NAND. To increase capacity in a limited footprint, manufacturers stack silicon layers vertically, sometimes exceeding 400 layers.

• Lam Cryo 3.0: This etch technology uses extreme cold to drill deep, uniform channels through 400+ layers of memory. Older processes distort the channel and ruin the device.
• Vantex: Dielectric etch chambers designed to work with Cryo 3.0 to produce these high-aspect-ratio structures reliably.

Weathering the Storm: Growth Despite Geopolitics

The business model of equipment manufacturers offers a layer of stability that pure-play chip designers often lack. While chip sales can swing with consumer demand and competitive pressures, equipment requires continuous maintenance, calibration, and upgrades.

That creates a recurring-revenue safety net. In fiscal year 2025, Applied Materials’ service division, Applied Global Services (AGS), generated $6.39 billion in revenue, up 3% year-over-year. Likewise, Lam Research’s Customer Support Business Group (CSBG) produces steady revenue from spares and upgrades. Service revenue provides a floor for earnings even during market downturns.

This resilience was tested by significant geopolitical headwinds. In late 2025, the U.S. government implemented the “50% affiliate” rule, expanding export restrictions to a broader set of Chinese entities. The rule states that if a restricted parent company owns 50% or more of a subsidiary, the subsidiary is treated as restricted as well.

As a result, Applied Materials’ revenue share from China fell from 37% in fiscal 2024 to 30% in fiscal 2025. Lam Research faced similar pressure, with an immediate $200 million revenue impact projected for the December 2025 quarter. Despite losing access to a significant portion of their largest market, both companies reported record or near-record revenues. That signals to investors that demand from the U.S., Taiwan, and Korea — driven by the AI boom — is robust enough to offset major geopolitical losses.

A Value Entry Point Into the AI Supercycle

Beyond their technological moat, these equipment makers offer attractive financial fundamentals. They typically trade at lower price-to-earnings (P/E) multiples than high-flying chip designers, providing a value entry point into the AI sector without the steep premiums attached to the most popular AI stocks.

Both companies also return substantial cash to shareholders, which can help stabilize share prices.

• Applied Materials: In fiscal year 2025, the company returned roughly $6.3 billion to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks.
• Lam Research: The company repurchased $990 million of its own stock in the September 2025 quarter alone.

Consistent capital returns demonstrate management confidence in cash flow and provide a tangible payoff to investors while they await the next growth leg.

Infrastructure Over Hype: Why the Equipment Makers Win

While chip designers fight for the spotlight, Applied Materials and Lam Research own the stage they stand on. They supply the essential infrastructure — the toll roads — of the semiconductor industry. Without their specific, patented machinery, the transition to 2nm logic chips and high-capacity memory cannot happen.

With the WFE market projected to top $105 billion in 2025 and continue growing into 2026, these companies provide a foundational way to gain exposure to the semiconductor supercycle. For investors seeking participation in AI-driven growth with lower volatility and proven financial stability, the equipment oligopoly presents a compelling opportunity.

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