News: Suppliers
12 May 2026
Arizona State University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Stanford University to join Applied Materials’ EPIC Center in Silicon Valley
Process equipment maker Applied Materials Inc of Santa Clara, CA, USA says that Arizona State University (ASU), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and Stanford University will join its EPIC Center in Silicon Valley as inaugural research partners.
Applied’s new EPIC (Equipment and Process Innovation and Commercialization) Center in Silicon Valley represents the largest-ever US investment in advanced semiconductor equipment R&D. It is designed to reduce the time it takes to commercialize breakthrough technologies from early-stage research to full-scale manufacturing. The facility is on track to become operational in 2026.
Through close collaboration with Applied’s scientists and engineers, the university teams will engage in research programs across advanced materials, novel process and device technologies, and chip architecture inflections – leveraging the synergy of academia and industry to accelerate energy-efficient innovations for next-generation AI chips.
“The EPIC Center is designed to bring together the best minds from industry and academia in a high-velocity, manufacturing-relevant environment to dramatically accelerate the development and commercialization of next-generation semiconductor technologies that are foundational to AI computing,” says Applied Materials’ president & CEO Gary Dickerson. “Welcoming ASU, RPI and Stanford as research partners at EPIC strengthens the US lab-to-fab innovation pipeline and creates a powerful platform for developing future semiconductor talent.”
Applied Materials says that research universities can benefit from access to leading-edge equipment and the ability to test whether new materials can be successfully integrated with others used by leading global manufacturers. Applied’s EPIC Center offers university researchers an opportunity to pursue manufacturing-relevant research in an industry-scale environment, enabling rapid iteration, faster validation, and smoother transition from discovery to deployment. Working alongside Applied scientists and engineers, academic teams gain access to cutting-edge equipment and process integration that can shave years off the traditional new materials development cycle. Building on decades of collaboration with engineering schools, these new partnerships aim to advance innovation while equipping students with the practical experience and systems-level perspective needed to strengthen the future semiconductor workforce.
“Applied Materials has a long history of working closely with the world’s top universities, and we are excited to take our collaborations to the next level with the EPIC Center,” says Dr Prabu Raja, president of the Semiconductor Products Group at Applied Materials. “We look forward to bringing the best of industry and academia together in a shared environment to accelerate the discovery and commercialization of technology breakthroughs for the semiconductor industry.”
“With the largest engineering school in the country, ASU is driven by our commitment to be of service to industry and to create partnerships that accelerate defining breakthroughs for future semiconductor technology,” says Arizona State University president Michael Crow. “Being a part of a high-velocity, high-creativity environment with the brightest minds in the industry builds upon the work we do with Applied Materials in our shared Materials-to-Fab Center at ASU,” he adds.
“The EPIC Center gives our students and researchers the opportunity to move beyond traditional academic research and contribute directly to industry-scale innovation,” comments RPI’s president Martin Schmidt. “Collaborating with Applied Materials and its ecosystem partners enables faster lab-to-fab breakthroughs in semiconductor materials, devices and 3D integration, while preparing students with hands-on manufacturing-relevant experience to contribute immediately and lead future advances in the industry. This builds upon our long history of working with many industry partners across the US to drive materials development for the semiconductor industry,” he adds.
“The explosive growth of AI is pushing semiconductor technology researchers to discover new materials and invent new devices, demanding faster cycles of innovation and closer collaboration across the ecosystem,” notes H.S. Philip Wong, the Willard R. and Inez Kerr Bell Professor in the School of Engineering at Stanford University and founding faculty co-director of the Stanford SystemX Alliance. “The EPIC Center enables our students and researchers to engage directly with industry-scale tools and experts, accelerating discovery while gaining the industry-relevant experience needed to lead future advances in semiconductor manufacturing.”
