Applied Materials, Inc. today hosted the Summit to Advance Semiconductor Leadership – an event focused on exploring solutions for overcoming key challenges facing the semiconductor industry on its path to becoming a $1 trillion market over the next decade. The summit took place at the future site of Applied’s new multibillion-dollar Equipment and Process Innovation and Collaboration (EPIC) Center in Silicon Valley, also announced today.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris joined other senior-level government officials at the summit along with global industry executives from semiconductor design, manufacturing and equipment companies, as well as academic leaders representing top engineering universities. A list of participating organizations may be found below.
Discussions throughout the day were focused on three critical topics:
- Economic Sustainability: Government funding and incentives are a catalyst to accelerate investment in new manufacturing capacity and research and development (R&D). Participants discussed the key factors that can ensure these investments are sustainable and durable over multiple generations of technology, and how industry and government can work together to maximize the positive long-term impact.
- National Security: Advanced semiconductors are the foundational building blocks of modern society, underpinning new technologies that can address the world’s most important challenges. The summit examined how industry and government can collaborate in new ways to advance technology that improves the standard of living globally, while protecting national security.
- Talent Development: The semiconductor industry has a rich history of innovation, overcoming seemingly insurmountable technical challenges in physics, chemistry and materials science. With a million new semiconductor scientists and technicians needed in the next decade, participants addressed the need to create a vibrant and inclusive pipeline of next-generation innovators that can help drive its growth.
“Over many decades, the chip industry has relentlessly pushed the boundaries of science and engineering to bring to life technologies that have improved our global economy and society,” said Gary Dickerson, President and CEO of Applied Materials. “While the impact of semiconductors has already been remarkable, this is just the beginning of what’s possible. After today’s summit with leaders from industry, academia and government, I am more excited than ever about our collaboration opportunities and our ability to accelerate innovations that will unleash future generations of chips and provide a long-term sustainable advantage in how chips are made.”
Following the summit, attendees celebrated the launch of Applied’s new multibillion-dollar facility for collaborative semiconductor manufacturing R&D. The EPIC Center is planned to be the heart of a high-velocity innovation platform designed to accelerate development and commercialization of foundational chip materials, process and manufacturing technologies. The EPIC Center is uniquely conceived as a hub for leading chipmakers to collaborate with the equipment ecosystem and academic partners to solve industry “grand challenges” related to complexity, cost, time-to-market, sustainability and talent development.
Participants
U.S. Government:
Office of the Vice President, Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology, National Science Foundation
Companies:
AMD, Amkor, Ampere, Analog Devices, BESI, Broadcom, GlobalFoundries, IBM, Intel, Kioxia, Kokusai, Micron, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Rapidus, Samsung, SCREEN, SK Hynix, Synopsys, Texas Instruments, Tokyo Electron, TSMC, Winbond, Western Digital
Universities and Institutes:
Arizona State University, National University of Singapore, Purdue University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Stanford University, State University of New York, University of California, Berkeley, University of Texas at Austin