Applied Materials partners with Samsung at new EPIC Center

Applied Materials said Samsung Electronics joined the new $5 billion EPIC Center in Silicon Valley, a collaborative Research and Development (R&D) facility described in the release as the largest-ever U.S. investment in advanced semiconductor equipment R&D.

The company said the global buildout of Artificial Intelligence (AI) infrastructure was driving demand for energy-efficient chips and that collaboration models needed rethinking to keep pace with semiconductor development and manufacturing technology.

The release described co-development programs that targeted materials engineering to accelerate node scaling, future memory architectures and extreme 3D integration, and it specified targets for atomic-scale advances in patterning, etch and deposition processes intended for advanced logic and memory chips.

Applied said the EPIC Center included more than 180,000 square feet of cleanroom space for collaborative R&D, that the facility was on track to become operational in spring 2026, and that Samsung Electronics was the first founding member named in the announcement.

“The global buildout of AI infrastructure is driving unprecedented demand for energy-efficient chips,” said Gary Dickerson, President and CEO of Applied Materials. “Samsung and Applied Materials continue to build on our long-standing partnership to advance leading-edge semiconductor equipment technologies,” said Young Hyun Jun, Vice Chairman and CEO of Samsung Electronics.

The press release included forward-looking statements about Applied’s investment and growth strategies, the EPIC Center plans and expectations, and the development of new materials and technologies, and it said those statements were subject to risks and uncertainties.