Applied Materials partners with SK hynix on next-generation DRAM and HBM R&D

Applied Materials and SK hynix signed a long-term collaboration agreement to accelerate the development and deployment of next-generation DRAM and High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), which the press release identified as essential for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and High performance computing (HPC).

Applied said the companies will work at the new EPIC Center in Silicon Valley, which is opening this year and was described as designed to provide chipmakers and ecosystem partners with earlier access to Applied’s Research and Development (R&D) portfolio, faster cycles of learning and accelerated transfer of next-generation technologies into high-volume manufacturing.

The announcement outlined joint R&D programs focused on materials engineering and advanced packaging innovations for next-generation DRAM and HBM, and described initial co-innovation work to explore new materials, complex integration schemes and enabling HBM-class advanced packaging. The release also referenced Applied’s advanced packaging R&D capabilities in Singapore and connections to heterogeneous integration and 3D advanced packaging challenges.

The companies said the collaboration would leverage the EPIC Center’s high-velocity co-innovation model, with SK hynix engineers working directly alongside Applied technologists to shorten the path from R&D to manufacturable processes; SK hynix became a founding partner of the EPIC Center as applied projects move toward operational readiness this year. The release noted capital spending is expected to scale over time to approximately $5 billion as customer projects commence.

“Applied Materials and SK hynix share a long history of working together to improve the energy-efficient performance of advanced memory chips through innovations in materials engineering,” said Gary Dickerson, President and CEO of Applied Materials. “We are excited to have SK hynix join the EPIC Center as a founding partner, and we look forward to driving further breakthroughs together that accelerate commercialization of next-generation DRAM and HBM technologies for the AI era.”

The press release included forward-looking statements concerning Applied’s investment and growth strategies, the development of new materials and technologies, plans and expectations for the EPIC Center, and factors that could cause actual results to differ from those statements.