Applied Materials and Besi Expand Strategic Partnership to Advance Next-Generation Packaging for AI Scaling
Key Highlights
- ➤Applied Materials (AMAT) and Besi (BESI) expand partnership through EPIC Center innovation collaboration
- ➤Expanded scope targets 3D IC scaling, logic-memory integration, and photonics for AI infrastructure
- ➤Collaboration adds hybrid bonding platforms, TCB scaling, and die-on-panel architectures
- ➤Applied Materials’ EPIC Center capital spending expected to scale to approximately $5 billion
Expert Statements
Gary Dickerson, President and CEO of Applied Materials
“Besi has been a trusted partner since we began co-developing next-generation hybrid bonding solutions. With Besi joining EPIC as an Innovation Partner, we’re extending that collaboration across the interconnect technologies our customers need to scale AI systems. Bringing this work into Applied's EPIC Center gives both companies earlier visibility into where the roadmap is headed and lets us co-optimize the full packaging flow.”
Richard Blickman, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Management of Besi
“Our center of excellence with Applied in Singapore has been foundational to Besi's hybrid bonding roadmap. Joining Applied's EPIC Center as an Innovation Partner is a natural next step, giving us a seat alongside the leading logic, memory and systems companies as we advance TCB scaling, die-on-panel integration and the interconnect technologies that will define the next generation of AI and photonics systems”
Dr. Prabu Raja, President of the Semiconductor Products Group at Applied Materials
“Advanced packaging is no longer a back-end assembly step – it is a materials engineering challenge that demands the same precision and cleanliness as front-end wafer fabrication. Developing these technologies together with Besi engineers in a front-end R&D environment like the EPIC Center will allow us to treat them as one connected flow rather than a series of isolated steps. That gives our mutual customers earlier access to co-optimized solutions and a faster path from development to high-volume manufacturing.”
* Besi joins Applied's EPIC Center as an Innovation Partner, extending a collaboration that began in 2020 with the companies' joint Hybrid Bonding Center of Excellence in Singapore * Expanded collaboration targets next-generation 3D IC scaling, logic and memory integration, and photonics applications supporting AI infrastructure build-out * Partnership expands beyond die-to-wafer hybrid bonding to new hybrid bonding platforms, scaling of thermo-compression bonding (TCB), and new die-on-wafer, die-on-die and die-on-panel architectures SANTA CLARA, Calif. and DUIVEN, The Netherlands, Oct. 01, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Applied Materials, Inc. (Nasdaq: AMAT) and BE Semiconductor Industries N.V. (Besi) (Euronext Amsterdam: BESI) today announced an expansion of their longstanding strategic partnership, with Besi joining Applied's EPIC Center as an Innovation Partner. The collaboration builds on the companies’ joint development program launched in 2020 and extends co-innovation beyond hybrid bonding into new interconnect architectures and applications supporting the semiconductor industry's AI-driven scaling roadmap.
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