Applied Materials opens $5B lab to speed AI chip development with partners

Applied Materials has opened its $5 billion EPIC Center in Sunnyvale, a 600,000-square-foot research facility intended to bring chipmakers, equipment companies and university researchers together to develop semiconductor processes and manufacturing tools for the AI era. The company says this collaborative approach could shorten the path from lab breakthroughs to mass production by at least 30%, a process that can currently take more than a decade. Founding partners include TSMC, Intel, Samsung, Micron and SK Hynix, alongside technology companies and university research teams. Applied Materials says faster advances in chip performance and efficiency could also help data centers meet growing computing demands while using less energy.