Applied Materials opens $5B chip R&D center in Silicon Valley

Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT) unveiled its Equipment and Process Innovation and Commercialization (EPIC) Center in Sunnyvale, California, a facility the company says represents a $5 billion capital investment expected to scale as customer projects commence.

The 600,000-square-foot structure houses nearly four acres of cleanroom space and required more than six million construction hours to complete. The facility is designed to bring chipmakers, equipment suppliers, and university researchers together with Applied Materials' own engineers under one roof.

Founding partners include TSMC, Intel, Samsung Electronics, Micron, and SK hynix. Innovation partners Broadcom, Advantest, SCREEN, KIOXIA, and Besi are also participating, along with research partners Arizona State University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Stanford University, UC Berkeley, and UCLA Samueli School of Engineering.

According to the company, the traditional semiconductor R&D model separates materials research, equipment development, and process integration into sequential phases. The EPIC Center is intended to allow these activities to occur in parallel within a single facility.

"To win the race for AI leadership, our industry must rethink and re-engineer how we collaborate to develop and commercialize the next generation of semiconductor technologies," said Gary Dickerson, President and CEO of Applied Materials.

Applied Materials said chipmakers participating in EPIC will gain early access to next-generation materials and equipment, while the company gains visibility into emerging technology challenges across multiple generations of chip development.

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