Applied Materials Collaborates with Micron and SK Hynix on AI Memory Technology

On March 10th local time, semiconductor equipment giant Applied Materials announced that Micron and SK Hynix have become founding partners of its EPIC Center. This $5 billion center, dedicated to equipment and process innovation and commercialization, is the largest advanced semiconductor equipment R&D project in the US to date and was launched this year, aiming to significantly shorten the time from R&D to mass production.

Under the collaboration, Applied Materials will work with Micron to develop next-generation materials, process technologies, and architectures for advanced DRAM, HBM, and NAND applications, and explore advanced packaging solutions to support high-bandwidth, low-power memory to address the high power consumption challenges brought by AI. Simultaneously, Applied Materials signed a comprehensive technology development agreement with SK Hynix, with initial collaborations focusing on new materials, complex integration, and HBM-level advanced packaging, aiming to improve the performance and manufacturability of future memory architectures.