Applied Materials and Intel Partner on AI Chipmaking at EPIC Center

Applied Materials announced on October 6, 2026 that it is working with Intel to accelerate development of chipmaking innovations for next-generation transistors, interconnects and advanced packaging technologies. The collaboration links Applied’s EPIC Center in Silicon Valley with Intel’s research and development campus in Hillsboro, Oregon, with the stated aim of shortening the time-to-market of advanced semiconductor technologies essential to AI computing.

Applied said the effort builds on the companies’ long history of working together to solve complex semiconductor device scaling challenges.

Joint Work on Logic, Interconnects and Packaging

Teams from the two companies are collaborating on next-generation materials, process technologies and device architectures for advanced logic nodes targeting AI workloads, and will continue this work at the EPIC Center. The collaboration spans both front-end and back-end-of-line advancements, including interconnect scaling, and also involves developing advanced packaging technologies for Foveros-based 3D stacking.

Applied said the packaging work supports higher interconnect density, improved power delivery and enhanced thermal performance for high-performance compute platforms designed to accelerate emerging agentic AI workloads.

Applied and Intel Executives on the Collaboration

Applied President and CEO Gary Dickerson said the two companies share a decades-long history of deep collaboration focused on pushing the boundaries of materials engineering to advance the semiconductor roadmap. “Bringing our teams together at the EPIC Center will deepen that partnership and accelerate the transistor, interconnect and packaging innovations needed to drive the future of AI computing,” he said.

Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan said demand for AI computing is driving the need for major advances in performance, power efficiency and packaging, and that Intel is focused on delivering those innovations in close collaboration with partners across the ecosystem. “Applied Materials is an important partner, and we look forward to expanding our work together at the EPIC Center to help accelerate the path from the lab to high-volume manufacturing in the United States,” he said.

Dr. Prabu Raja, President of the Semiconductor Products Group at Applied Materials, identified Intel as a founding partner of the EPIC Center. He said that with the chipmaking roadmap becoming more complex at each process node, accelerating innovations in semiconductor devices, interconnects and packaging requires deeper collaboration across research and development and manufacturing, and that Applied looks forward to working closely with Intel to shorten development cycles and bring new technologies to market faster.

Naga Chandrasekaran, Executive Vice President, Chief Technology and Operations Officer and General Manager of Intel Foundry, said accelerating Intel’s research and development to keep pace with the rapid buildout of AI infrastructure is critical to delivering the technology, manufacturing excellence and foundry services customers expect from Intel Foundry. He said the new EPIC Center provides an environment for closer, higher-velocity collaboration on materials development and process innovations.

The EPIC Center and Its 2023 Launch

Applied described the EPIC Center — formally the Equipment and Process Innovation and Commercialization Center — as designed from the ground up to reduce the time it takes to commercialize new technologies from early-stage research to full-scale manufacturing. For chipmakers, the company said, the center will provide earlier access to Applied’s research and development portfolio, faster cycles of learning and accelerated transfer of next-generation technologies into high-volume manufacturing within a secure collaborative environment. The co-innovation programs at the center will give Applied greater multi-node visibility to guide its research and development investments while increasing research productivity and value sharing, according to the company.

Applied first announced the EPIC Center on May 22, 2023, describing it as the world’s largest and most advanced facility for collaborative semiconductor process technology and manufacturing equipment research and development. In that announcement, the company said the facility, at an Applied campus in Silicon Valley, would include more than 180,000 square feet of cleanroom for collaborative innovation with chipmakers, universities and ecosystem partners. Applied said the center would give chipmakers dedicated space inside an equipment supplier’s facility for the first time, letting them extend their in-house pilot lines and work with next-generation technologies and tools before those capabilities could be installed at their own sites.

Applied said in 2023 that it expected to make gross incremental capital investments of up to $4 billion over seven years to create the center, which it expected to be completed by early 2026 and to become the nexus of more than $25 billion in company research and development investments during its first 10 years of operations. The company said at the time that the project was expected to create up to 2,000 new engineering jobs in Silicon Valley, and that the scale of the investment was contingent upon receiving support from the U.S. government through provisions of the CHIPS and Science Act.

The 2023 announcement said companies including AMD, IBM, Intel, Micron, Nvidia, Samsung, TSMC and Western Digital commented on the launch. Applied said the new center is scheduled to be operationally ready in 2026.