Applied Materials expands Besi partnership for AI packaging

Applied Materials and BE Semiconductor Industries, known as Besi, announced an expansion of their strategic partnership on October 1, 2026. Under the agreement, Besi joins Applied's Equipment and Process Innovation and Commercialization (EPIC) Center in Silicon Valley as an Innovation Partner.

The EPIC Center represents a planned investment expected to scale to approximately $5 billion over time as customer projects begin, and it is scheduled to be operationally ready this year. Applied Materials aims to use the facility to accelerate the commercialization of chip technologies from research into high-volume manufacturing.

The collaboration builds on a joint development program started in 2020 at a Center of Excellence in Singapore, which previously yielded Kinex, an integrated die-to-wafer hybrid bonding system. Engineers from both companies will now work together at the EPIC Center on next-generation 3D IC scaling, logic and memory integration, thermo-compression bonding (TCB), die-on-panel integration, and photonics interconnects for artificial intelligence systems.