World's No.1 US Semiconductor Equipment Company Invests 5 Trillion Won in Silicon Valley... "Expecting Subsidies"

Research with Semiconductor Manufacturers and Universities
Reducing Semiconductor Chip Development Time to One Third

The Biden administration in the United States has promised subsidies for semiconductor research facilities, and Applied Materials (AMAT), the world's number one semiconductor equipment company, announced on the 22nd (local time) that it plans to build a new research facility in Silicon Valley, California. AMAT plans to invest up to $4 billion (5.272 trillion KRW) over the next seven years for this purpose.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

The research facility, called 'EPIC (Equipment and Process Innovation and Commercialization),' will conduct research and testing on new semiconductor equipment development in collaboration with semiconductor manufacturers such as Intel in the U.S., TSMC in Taiwan, Samsung Electronics, and universities. A facility larger than three American football stadiums will be prepared for this purpose.

AMAT stated that after building the facility, research work worth $25 billion will be conducted over the initial 10 years. They added that this is expected to reduce the time required to develop new semiconductor chips to about one-third of the current duration. It usually takes several years to implement ideas from research universities in factories, and they aim to shorten this period. The company targets completion by 2026 and explained that up to 2,000 engineering jobs will be created through this project.

Headquartered in Silicon Valley, AMAT counts Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix among its clients, and last September, it announced plans to build a semiconductor equipment research and development (R&D) center in Korea as well.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

The New York Times (NYT) reported that such semiconductor construction projects have not been undertaken in Silicon Valley for over 30 years, interpreting this as a move to shift to a key role in semiconductor production. AMAT is aware that semiconductor companies that grew in Silicon Valley have built fabs (factories) in lower-cost regions, and the NYT reported that AMAT said the innovation created by technical talent from nearby universities and fabless (semiconductor design) companies will offset the cost gap with other regions.

AMAT's investment announcement came amid the start of U.S. government subsidy support. The Biden administration is implementing the CHIPS Act, which supports a total of $52.7 billion over five years, including $39 billion in semiconductor production subsidies and $13.2 billion in R&D support funds, to encourage semiconductor companies to invest domestically.

Gary Dickerson, CEO of AMAT, said, "We will build the new research facility regardless of government support, but the scale and speed of construction may vary depending on the level of support provided by the government."

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