Key points
- Applied Materials and Intel are expanding their AI chip research
- The work includes Intel's Foveros 3D chip stacking
- TSMC is already a partner at the same Applied center
Applied Materials (AMAT) and Intel (INTC) will work together on next-generation transistors, chip wiring, and advanced packaging for AI chips, Applied announced on Oct. 6. The goal is to get new chipmaking technology from the lab into high-volume manufacturing faster.
The work will run at Applied's new EPIC Center in Silicon Valley and at Intel's research campus in Hillsboro, Oregon. Applied's release didn't include any dollar figures.
The partnership covers Intel's 3D chip stacking
The two companies will work on materials, processes, and chip designs for advanced manufacturing nodes aimed at AI workloads. That includes interconnects, the tiny wiring that links a chip's parts. They're also developing packaging technology for Foveros, Intel's method of stacking chips on top of each other, with a focus on denser connections, better power delivery, and better heat handling.
"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," Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan said. Applied CEO Gary Dickerson pointed to the companies' "decades-long history of deep collaboration."
Applied says the EPIC Center, short for Equipment and Process Innovation and Commercialization, is scheduled to be operationally ready this year. Applied called Intel a founding partner of the center.
Intel is part of a growing list of EPIC partners
Applied has announced three EPIC partnerships or expansions in about a week. Japanese memory maker Kioxia joined on Sept. 29, followed by an expanded partnership with Dutch packaging equipment maker Besi on Oct. 1. TSMC (TSM) joined in May.
The TSMC connection interests me most. Intel and TSMC compete to manufacture chips for other companies, and Applied works with both. Applied says those relationships help it understand what chipmakers need next and decide where to focus its own research spending.
Applied shares traded at $547.00 at 9:16 a.m. ET on Oct. 6, up about 0.9% in premarket trading. Intel was up about 0.8% at $117.10.
Our guide to what each chip equipment stock actually sells explains where Applied fits in the chipmaking process.
