Applied Materials Unveils EPIC Center for Collaborative Chip R&D

Applied Materials unveiled its Equipment and Process Innovation and Commercialization (EPIC) Center at its Sunnyvale, California, campus on October 12, 2026, a facility the company describes as a $5 billion capital investment and the world’s largest dedicated to collaborative semiconductor process technology and manufacturing equipment R&D.

A footnote to the investment figure states that capital spending is expected to scale over time to approximately $5 billion as customer projects commence. Inside the center, chipmakers, systems companies, equipment partners and university researchers will work alongside Applied’s scientists and engineers. President and CEO Gary Dickerson said scaling AI infrastructure is driving new levels of complexity across the chipmaking roadmap and that the industry must re-engineer how it collaborates to develop and commercialize the next generation of semiconductor technologies.

A Parallel Development Model

Applied built EPIC to replace the sequential R&D structure the chip industry has relied on for decades. Under the traditional model, foundational materials research happens in one environment, equipment and process development in a second, and process integration and pilot production in a third, with a handoff at every phase. The center is designed to remove those handoffs by putting the people who invent materials, build equipment and make chips in a single facility. The company’s EPIC Center page states that partners work alongside Applied’s scientists and engineers on technology three to four generations ahead of production, developing in parallel rather than in sequence.

Applied expects the operating model to deliver returns on both sides of the partnerships. Chipmakers gain earliest access to next-generation materials and equipment, shorter learning cycles and a faster path to volume production, while Applied gains visibility across several generations of emerging technology challenges, informing where it directs R&D investments.

The unveiling day began with a summit hosted by Dr. Prabu Raja, president of Applied’s Semiconductor Products Group, where R&D leaders from semiconductor design, manufacturing and equipment companies discussed challenges facing the global chip industry. “EPIC is the only place where materials, process technology and equipment will be innovated in parallel, which increases the success rate of new materials and technologies,” Raja said.

Construction Scale and Sustainability

The 600,000-square-foot structure houses nearly four acres of advanced cleanroom space and required more than six million construction hours to complete, according to the release, which characterizes EPIC as one of the most complex R&D construction projects in the world. Its foundation holds enough concrete to fill 34 Olympic-sized swimming pools, its steel-reinforced structure holds enough steel to build two Eiffel Towers, and 34 roof trusses cover the cleanrooms, each spanning nearly 300 feet and weighing as much as 12 school buses.

The company’s EPIC page also describes the building’s sustainability features: an all-electric central volatile organic compound abatement unit and electrified central facilities equipment eliminate stationary combustion Scope 1 emissions associated with central boilers, and the facility is designed to recycle and reuse approximately 40 percent of its water.

Founding and Innovation Partners

The center opens with founding partners TSMC, Intel, Samsung Electronics, Micron and SK hynix, joined by innovation partners Broadcom, Advantest, SCREEN, KIOXIA and Besi, and by research partners Arizona State University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Stanford University, UC Berkeley and the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering. Each partner brings its own roadmap challenges and engineers into the facility, working in secure learning cycles alongside Applied teams. Applied had previously disclosed EPIC-focused collaborations with Intel and with Besi, both listed among the center’s news on its EPIC page.

Leaders from many partner companies attended the unveiling for a first look inside the facility. TSMC Chairman and CEO Dr. C.C. Wei said the leading-edge production node has moved from 350 nanometers thirty years ago to 2 nanometers today and that collaboration with Applied beyond that node gives TSMC early access to equipment technologies aimed at energy-efficient AI architectures. Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan said Intel sees a path to more than a trillion transistors in a package by 2030 and that EPIC lets its engineers work side by side with Applied on materials and process innovation.

Micron Chairman and CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said Micron will work with Applied to bring next-generation memory technologies from research to high-volume manufacturing at scale. Samsung Device Solutions CTO Jaihyuk Song said the partners will develop, iterate and deploy technologies across logic, memory and advanced packaging, and SK hynix President and CEO Nohjung Kwak said the companies will address major inflections across HBM, DRAM and NAND. Broadcom Semiconductor Solutions Group president Charlie Kawwas pointed to earlier engagement with Applied’s foundational technologies, and Besi President and CEO Richard Blickman cited joint work advancing hybrid bonding for future 3D integrated devices. Applied expects additional companies and organizations to join the EPIC ecosystem over time.