Item 8.01 Other Events.

On March 10, 2009, the Board of Directors (the "Board") of Applied Materials, Inc. ("Applied") approved a second ten percent (10%) reduction in the annual cash retainer for non-employee directors of the Board, in order to reduce costs in light of global economic and industry conditions. This reduction is in addition to the ten percent (10%) reduction in non-employee directors' annual cash retainer that previously was implemented in December 2008. This brings the non-employee directors' annual cash retainer to $52,000, which is a total reduction of twenty percent (20%) from $65,000, the annual cash retainer for non-employee directors of the Board in effect at the beginning of Applied's current fiscal year. This reduction in non-employee directors' compensation is consistent with the ongoing twenty percent (20%) reduction in base salary for each of Applied's senior executive officers.

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