Is Axcelis Stock a Buy After Doubling This Year?

Axcelis Technologies, a pure-play ion implantation equipment manufacturer critical to AI chip production, has doubled year-to-date despite modest 3% YoY revenue growth in Q1. Strong sequential growth in memory demand is expected to drive future results, and an upcoming merger with Veeco Instruments will expand the company's AI infrastructure portfolio and create synergies. Analysts suggest the stock rally has room to extend as memory becomes a larger revenue share.