# Applied Materials Adds Kioxia to EPIC Center for AI Memory Work

By John Kim

Canonical URL: https://www.tokenpost.com/news/business/26059
Published: 2026-10-01T04:19:44.000Z
Updated: 2026-10-01T04:19:44.000Z
Section: Business

> The companies will develop memory structures, chip-stacking methods, advanced packaging and materials engineering for higher storage density and performance.

Applied Materials has added Kioxia as an innovation partner at its Silicon Valley EPIC Center, expanding work on memory technologies intended to improve storage density and performance for artificial intelligence systems.

The collaboration will focus on new memory cells and structures, multichip stacking, advanced packaging for stacked memory and materials engineering designed with mass production in mind. The work is aimed at increasing capacity and performance within space and cost constraints.

The teams will work together at EPIC to move memory and packaging research toward commercialization. The project also addresses the cost and technical complexity involved in increasing memory density, including advances in materials, equipment and manufacturing processes.

Applied Materials announced the EPIC Center in May 2023 as a collaborative semiconductor-equipment research facility. The company initially planned to invest up to $4 billion over seven years. Its expected capital investment has since increased to about $5 billion as customer projects get underway. The center is expected to open this year.

Samsung Electronics and SK hynix previously joined the center. Other collaborators include Broadcom, Japan-based equipment maker SCREEN and the University of California, Berkeley.

On Sept. 28, Morgan Stanley cut its Applied Materials price target to $563 from $642 while maintaining an Equal-weight rating. It raised its 2027 revenue estimate to $50.7 billion and its earnings-per-share estimate to $20.92, citing stronger flash-memory demand and improved gross margins.