Applied Materials announced Broadcom as its EPIC (Equipment and Process Innovation and Commercialization) platform partner and will collaborate on the development of advanced packaging technologies for AI systems. The two companies plan to jointly review packaging structures and related process technologies that efficiently connect multiple chips within a single system.

Applied Materials announced on the 21st in the U.S. that Broadcom is joining the EPIC platform. This collaboration aims to enhance the performance, bandwidth, and power efficiency required for AI computing semiconductors at the packaging stage.

Through this collaboration, Broadcom will utilize the R&D hub operated by Applied Technologies as the basis for cooperation. The two companies plan to conduct joint research focusing on technologies for connecting multiple chips within computing systems and heterogeneous integrated architectures.

As the demand for high-performance semiconductors grows due to the proliferation of AI data centers, advanced packaging is emerging as a major technological pillar alongside microfabrication. As it becomes difficult to meet the overall system's power efficiency and bandwidth requirements solely through improvements in the performance of individual chips, the importance of inter-chip connection methods and packaging structures is growing.

The EPIC platform is a collaborative framework designed to enable semiconductor equipment, materials, process, and design companies to review technologies together from the early development stage. Through this, Applied plans to align process equipment and materials-based technologies with system design requirements at an earlier stage.

The EPIC Center currently under construction in Silicon Valley is also expected to serve as a key hub for this collaboration. Applied is preparing this facility with a target of launching it in 2026, focusing on conducting technology reviews and commercialization preparations in a single space.

This partnership demonstrates that competition in the AI semiconductor sector is expanding beyond chip design and manufacturing processes into the realms of packaging, interconnects, and system integration. Broadcom plans to accelerate the development of AI chip packaging technology by combining its system design expertise with Applied Materials’ process equipment and material-based technologies.