SK Hynix (000660) is joining a major semiconductor research and development infrastructure project worth up to 7 trillion won in Silicon Valley, led by the world's largest semiconductor equipment maker.
Following Samsung Electronics' recent participation, SK Hynix's involvement means both of Korea's major chipmakers now hold core roles in the project, accelerating collaboration with US Big Tech and new technology development.
According to industry sources on the 11th, SK Hynix President Kwak Noh-jung and Prabu Raja, President of Applied Materials' Semiconductor Products Group, recently signed a long-term cooperation agreement to accelerate the development and adoption of next-generation DRAM and High Bandwidth Memory (HBM). Through this agreement, SK Hynix joins as a founding member of the EPIC Center project led by Applied Materials.
The EPIC Center is a semiconductor equipment R&D facility that Applied Materials is building in Silicon Valley with investments of up to $5 billion (approximately 7.3 trillion won). The facility aims to begin operations this year. It will bring together semiconductor manufacturers and materials, parts, and equipment companies to pursue new technology development and process improvements. US-based Micron also became a founding member of the EPIC Center alongside Samsung Electronics last month and SK Hynix.
SK Hynix plans to dispatch its engineers to the EPIC Center to jointly conduct long-term semiconductor R&D projects for next-generation memory. As memory architecture advances beyond current mass production processes to next-generation nodes, both companies have agreed to focus initially on exploring new materials, integrated complex processing methods, and research for implementing HBM-level advanced packaging. They also plan to link with Applied Materials' advanced packaging R&D infrastructure in Singapore.
President Kwak said, "The biggest challenge in artificial intelligence development is the widening gap between memory speed and processor performance. I look forward to presenting an innovation roadmap through collaboration with Applied Materials at the new EPIC Center to realize next-generation memory solutions optimized for AI."
Gary Dickerson, Chairman of Applied Materials, said, "We look forward to creating meaningful innovations together that will accelerate the commercialization of next-generation DRAM and HBM technologies."