American materials engineering solutions Applied Materials and Dutch-based chip assembly supplier BE Semiconductor Industries N.V. (Besi) have expanded their strategic partnership as the semiconductor industry races to overcome the packaging and interconnect challenges created by artificial intelligence. The move positions the two companies to accelerate development of next-generation advanced packaging technologies that are increasingly critical to AI system performance, bandwidth, and energy efficiency.

Under the expanded collaboration, Besi will become an Innovation Partner at Applied Materials’ EPIC (Equipment and Process Innovation and Commercialization) Center in Silicon Valley. The agreement builds on a joint development initiative launched in 2020 and broadens cooperation beyond hybrid bonding into emerging chip integration architectures designed to support future AI infrastructure.

The announcement reflects a broader industry shift. As AI workloads become larger and more complex, performance gains increasingly depend on advanced packaging and chip-to-chip connectivity rather than traditional transistor scaling alone. As a result, packaging technology is moving to the center of semiconductor innovation strategies worldwide.

From Hybrid Bonding to Full Packaging Flow Optimization

The partnership aims to provide semiconductor customers with earlier access to co-optimized process and assembly solutions spanning the entire advanced packaging workflow. The collaboration will extend from wafer-level hybrid bonding through panel-scale integration technologies.

Applied and Besi previously established a joint Center of Excellence in Singapore, combining Applied’s expertise in materials engineering processes with Besi’s strengths in die placement, interconnect, and assembly technologies. That effort led to the development of Kinex™, described as the industry’s first integrated die-to-wafer hybrid bonding system.

“Besi has been a trusted partner since we began co-developing next-generation hybrid bonding solutions,” said Gary Dickerson, President and CEO of Applied Materials. “With Besi joining EPIC as an Innovation Partner, we’re extending that collaboration across the interconnect technologies our customers need to scale AI systems.”

According to Dickerson, closer collaboration inside the EPIC Center will enable both companies to gain earlier visibility into technology roadmaps and optimize packaging flows more effectively.

Advanced Packaging Becomes a Strategic Competitive Battleground

The expanded alliance will focus on several key technology areas shaping future semiconductor designs. These include new platforms for die-to-wafer hybrid bonding, scaling of thermo-compression bonding (TCB), die-on-wafer and die-on-die integration, die-on-panel architectures, and photonics-enabled interconnect technologies.

The inclusion of photonics research highlights growing industry interest in co-packaged optics as data centers seek faster and more energy-efficient communication pathways for AI computing clusters.

“Our center of excellence with Applied in Singapore has been foundational to Besi’s hybrid bonding roadmap,” said Richard Blickman, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Management of Besi. “Joining Applied’s EPIC Center as an Innovation Partner is a natural next step.”

Blickman added that the partnership places Besi alongside leading logic, memory, and systems companies working on technologies that will define future AI and photonics platforms.

EPIC Center Strengthens U.S. Semiconductor R&D Ecosystem

The collaboration also underscores the strategic importance of Applied Materials’ EPIC Center, which represents a planned investment expected to scale to approximately $5 billion over time as customer projects advance.

By bringing packaging development into a front-end semiconductor R&D environment, the companies aim to shorten commercialization timelines and accelerate the transition from laboratory innovation to high-volume manufacturing.

“Advanced packaging is no longer a back-end assembly step – it is a materials engineering challenge that demands the same precision and cleanliness as front-end wafer fabrication,” said Dr. Prabu Raja, President of Applied Materials’ Semiconductor Products Group.

As AI continues to reshape semiconductor design priorities, the expanded Applied-Besi partnership signals that advanced packaging and interconnect innovation will play an increasingly decisive role in determining next-generation computing performance.

02 October 2026