Applied Materials and Besi Expand AI Packaging Partnership

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Applied Materials and Besi Expand AI Packaging Partnership

Published2026.10.02 09:14

Besi Joins EPIC Center as Innovation Partner, Expands Joint Development Scope to Hybrid Bonding, TCB, and Photonics Interconnects

As AI infrastructure advancement drives increased demand for highly integrated semiconductor packaging, Applied Materials and Besi (BE Semiconductor Industries) are expanding collaboration across all advanced packaging domains. The cooperation between the two companies, which began with a joint development program in Singapore in 2020, has now been elevated to a strategic partnership centered on the EPIC (Equipment and Process Innovation and Commercialization) Center.

Applied Materials announced on the 2nd the expansion of its strategic partnership with Besi and Besi's joining of the EPIC Center as an innovation partner.

The expanded cooperation is characterized by broadening the scope of joint development beyond the existing die-to-wafer hybrid bonding collaboration to include new hybrid bonding platforms, thermocompression bonding (TCB) scaling, die-on-wafer, die-on-die, die-on-panel integration, and photonics-based interconnects.

Besi engineers, in their capacity as innovation partners, will be stationed at the EPIC Center in Silicon Valley and will jointly optimize process and assembly solutions with Applied teams.

The EPIC Center is the largest advanced semiconductor R&D facility in the United States, established with approximately $5 billion in investment, and is scheduled to be operational by year-end.

Capital expenditures will be expanded progressively as customer projects commence.

The major R&D programs being pursued by both companies include △new die-to-wafer hybrid bonding platforms △TCB and related process ecosystem scaling △die-on-wafer, die-on-die, and die-on-panel integration platforms △photonics-based interconnect applications supporting co-packaged optics (CPO) and AI system scaling.

In 2020, the two companies established a joint Center of Excellence (CoE) at Applied's Advanced Packaging Development Center in Singapore, combining Applied's process technologies in etching, planarization, deposition, wafer cleaning, and metrology with Besi's die placement, interconnect, and assembly technologies.

As a result of this collaboration, the industry's first die-to-wafer hybrid bonding integrated system 'Kinex™' was developed.

Gary Dickerson, Chairman and CEO of Applied Materials, said, "By collaborating with Besi at the EPIC Center, we will be able to gain early insights into technology roadmap directions and jointly optimize the entire packaging flow."

Richard Blickman, CEO of Besi, stated, "We will advance TCB scaling, die-on-panel integration, and interconnect technologies for next-generation AI and photonics systems."

#하이브리드 본딩 #EPIC 센터 #반도체 패키징 #AI 패키징 #Applied Materials #Besi #TCB #포토닉스 인터커넥트 #고집적 패키징 #어플라이드

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