Applied Materials, Inc. (Nasdaq: AMAT) announced that Kioxia Corporation, a supplier of flash memory and solid state drives, will join Applied's EPIC Center in Silicon Valley as an innovation partner to advance next-generation memory technologies.

According to a press release, the two companies will collaborate on research and development focused on advanced memory-cell and structure creation, multi-chip stacking architectures, and materials engineering approaches intended to increase memory density and performance.

Specific areas of focus include advanced memory cell and structure creation, multi-chip stacking for next-generation memory, advanced packaging for stacked memory, and materials engineering innovations to support manufacturability at scale.

Gary Dickerson, President and CEO of Applied Materials, said: "By bringing Kioxia's deep expertise in memory technology together with Applied's materials engineering innovations at the EPIC Center, we're creating a powerful partnership to define what's possible in next-generation memory."

Hiroo Ota, President and CEO of Kioxia Corporation, said: "Our collaboration with Applied Materials reflects our shared commitment to driving memory innovation, and we are excited to partner at the EPIC Center to achieve advanced breakthroughs."

Applied Materials' EPIC (Equipment and Process Innovation and Commercialization) Center is a $5 billion facility in Silicon Valley, with capital spending expected to scale over time as customer projects commence. The center is designed to reduce the time required to move technologies from early-stage research to full-scale manufacturing. The facility is expected to be operationally ready in 2026.

Kioxia joins an existing ecosystem at the EPIC Center that includes chipmakers, chip designers, equipment partners, and universities.