Applied Materials opens $5 billion EPIC Center for AI chips

Applied Materials is a key supplier of equipment and software used by TSMC, Intel and Samsung to build chips, placing it upstream of nearly every major AI processor. A chip can take more than a decade to go from a lab breakthrough to full-fledged production, and the EPIC Center is designed to let scientists, engineers and researchers from companies and universities work in one place rather than in isolated parts of the supply chain. According to Dickerson, five to 10 key technologies determine the performance and yield of semiconductors — meaning a handful of decisions carry outsized weight in how good and how cheap a finished chip becomes.

The timing is tied to the wider AI race. Advanced AI models are progressing quickly, and chip production has become a flashpoint between the US and China, with the Trump administration imposing export controls on the most advanced chips made by Nvidia. Applied Materials frames its bets partly in energy terms: Dickerson said better chip efficiency and performance could help ease public concerns about power-hungry data centers that keep AI models from Anthropic and OpenAI running. He also expects breakthroughs to spill into healthcare, education and industrial production, and into consumer devices beyond the smartphone.