Key points
- What Applied's CEO said about hiring
- Where Applied is using AI inside the company
- What Applied unveiled in Sunnyvale on Monday
Applied Materials (AMAT) CEO Gary Dickerson said the chip-equipment maker plans to double revenue over the next few years without doubling its workforce, because it's relying more on AI tools for work such as product development and quality control. "As we double the size of the company over the next few years, we're not going to be doubling headcount," Dickerson said in an interview with Bloomberg.
The interview ran Monday, the day Applied unveiled its EPIC Center, a research and development facility in Sunnyvale, California. Applied shares closed down 1.9% at $497.53.
Dickerson made a similar point in August
On Applied's earnings call in August, Dickerson said that in operations, the supply chain, and corporate functions, "AI is helping us ramp faster, drive meaningful improvements in productivity, and scale our revenue significantly faster than our headcount." Applied had about 38,900 employees at the end of that quarter, after hiring more than 1,500 people in manufacturing and customer support during the quarter, according to the call.
So Applied is still hiring. Its plan is for headcount to grow more slowly than revenue.
The EPIC Center puts customers inside Applied's labs
EPIC is short for Equipment and Process Innovation and Commercialization. The 600,000-square-foot building has nearly four acres of cleanroom space, according to Applied. The company calls it the world's largest facility for joint chip process and equipment research.
Chipmakers, systems companies, equipment makers, and university researchers will work inside the building alongside Applied's engineers, instead of handing work from one lab to the next. TSMC (TSM), Intel (INTC), Samsung Electronics, Micron (MU), and SK Hynix are founding partners. Broadcom (AVGO), Advantest, SCREEN, KIOXIA, and Besi are innovation partners, and five universities, including Stanford and UC Berkeley, are research partners. Intel expanded its work with Applied at the center on October 6.
Applied describes EPIC as a $5 billion investment. A footnote in the release says capital spending is expected to scale over time to about $5 billion as customer projects begin.
