SANTA CLARA, Calif., May 12, 2026 — Applied Materials, Inc. has announced that Arizona State University (ASU), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and Stanford University will join the company’s EPIC Center in Silicon Valley as inaugural research partners. Through close collaboration with Applied’s scientists and engineers, university teams will engage in high-velocity 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,” said Gary Dickerson, President and CEO of Applied Materials. “Welcoming ASU, RPI and Stanford as research partners at EPIC strengthens the U.S. lab-to-fab innovation pipeline and creates a powerful platform for developing future semiconductor talent.”
Research universities, which produce valuable ideas for future semiconductor materials and processes, benefit dramatically 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 a rare 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 top engineering schools, these new partnerships aim to advance high-velocity 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,” said Dr. Prabu Raja, President of the Semiconductor Products Group at Applied Materials. “We are thrilled to have ASU, RPI and Stanford as inaugural research partners at EPIC, and 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.”…