Applied Materials Invests $4 Billion in Silicon Valley Chip Research Center

Applied Materials, the biggest maker of machines for producing semiconductors, plans to build a $4 billion research facility near Santa Clara, California, to allow chip makers and universities to collaborate on advances to make more powerful chips. The project, called Epic, is set to have ultraclean production space bigger than three football fields and is designed to give university researchers and other engineers comparable resources to experiment with new materials and techniques for creating advanced chips. The plan is the latest in a string of chip-related projects spurred by the CHIPs Act, a $52 billion package of subsidies that Congress passed last year to reduce U.S. dependence on Asian factories for the critical components.