AMAT to Build 7 Trillion Won Semiconductor R&D Center... Samsung Electronics Becomes a Founding Member

Joint Semiconductor R&D Center in Silicon Valley, United States
Samsung Electronics Joins as an Initial Funding Member

Samsung Electronics will join Applied Materials (AMAT)'s semiconductor joint research and development (R&D) center being built in Silicon Valley in the United States as a founding member.

Park Kwangseon, CEO of AMAT Korea, said at a press briefing held at Chosun Palace in Gangnam, Seoul on the 12th, "Samsung is participating for the first time as a funding member of the EPIC Center in Silicon Valley, United States," adding, "By joining this new ecosystem, we will accelerate collaboration in technology development."

Park Gwangseon, President of Applied Materials Korea, is delivering a presentation at a press briefing held on the 12th at the Chosun Palace in Gangnam, Seoul. Applied Materials Korea

The EPIC Center is a joint R&D facility for advanced semiconductor process technology and manufacturing equipment being built with an investment of 5 billion dollars (about 7 trillion won), and is scheduled to open this year. This represents the largest-ever investment in the field of advanced semiconductor equipment R&D in the United States.

On the 11th (local time), AMAT said on its IR website, "The joint research and development program at the EPIC Center targets new materials and process technologies for chips that are several nodes ahead of the current generation," adding, "It will innovate atomic-level advanced patterning, etching, and deposition processes to enable next-generation devices across advanced logic and memory chips."

Jeon Younghyun, Head of the Device Solutions (DS) Division at Samsung Electronics, said, "Samsung and AMAT have been steadily building a long-standing partnership to advance leading semiconductor equipment technologies," adding, "We look forward to further deepening technological collaboration between the two companies at the new EPIC Center."

AMAT will also establish an R&D center in Korea. Using the AMAT Korea Collaboration Center, which is currently under construction in Osan, Gyeonggi Province, as a base, the company plans to strengthen ecosystem collaboration with engineers, academia, and partners, and to foster local talent.

Yonhap News Agency

At the briefing, AMAT Korea also unveiled new transistor and interconnect innovation technologies that can enhance the performance of cutting-edge logic chips at 2-nanometer nodes and below. The idea is to dramatically boost AI computing performance by improving transistors, the most fundamental electronic devices, at the atomic level.

First, AMAT's new radical treatment system, Producer Viva, makes the surface of nanosheets, which serve as channels in semiconductors, extremely smooth at the atomic level so that electrons can flow more easily. AMAT's latest etching equipment model, Sym3 Z Magnum, vertically etches very deep and narrow trenches in a straight line, helping chips operate quickly and without errors. Finally, Centura Sculpta is deposition equipment that coats a new material called molybdenum in ultra-thin, uniform atomic layers, with a focus on reducing resistance at connection points and improving energy efficiency compared with the tungsten previously used.

Prabu Raja, President of the Semiconductor Products Group (SPG) at AMAT, said, "The rapid advancement of AI is pushing computing performance to its limits, and computing innovation starts with the transistor," adding, "In line with the angstrom era, the systems announced this time extend Applied's long-standing leadership in driving major innovations in key transistor and interconnect domains, while helping our customers accelerate their roadmaps to keep pace with the speed of AI advancement."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.