TSMC joins Applied Materials' EPIC Center as founding partner
Applied Materials has announced a new innovation partnership with TSMC at its EPIC Center in Silicon Valley, where the two companies will co-develop materials, equipment and process technologies for next-generation semiconductor devices. TSMC becomes the latest company to join the platform.
The partnership builds on more than 30 years of collaboration between the two companies. Working together at the EPIC Center, the focus areas will span: process technologies targeting power, performance and area improvements across leading-edge logic nodes; new materials and manufacturing equipment for increasingly complex 3D transistor and interconnect structures; and process integration approaches that improve yield and reliability as devices move toward vertically stacked architectures, according to a press release from Applied Materials.
As a founding partner, TSMC gains earlier access to Applied's R&D portfolio and next-generation equipment — with the stated goal of accelerating the transition from technology development to high-volume manufacturing.
"As semiconductor device architectures evolve with each new generation, the demands on materials engineering and process integration continue to increase," said Dr. Y.J. Mii, Executive Vice President and Co-Chief Operating Officer at TSMC. "Meeting the challenges of AI at a global scale requires industry-wide collaboration."
The EPIC Center – a USD 5 billion investment by Applied Materials and the largest-ever US investment in advanced semiconductor equipment R&D – is expected to be operationally ready this year.
TSMC is the latest in a growing list of industry heavyweights to join the platform. Samsung announced its participation in February, followed by Micron and SK Hynix in March, and test equipment supplier Advantest in early May.
