The news
Kioxia will join Applied Materials' (AMAT) EPIC Center in Silicon Valley as an innovation partner to develop next-generation memory, Applied announced on September 29. The Kioxia Applied Materials partnership targets denser, higher-performance memory for AI systems.
The companies named four areas of joint research: new memory cell structures for higher-density chips; stacking multiple memory chips so more capacity fits into tight spaces; advanced packaging for stacked memory to improve the connections between chips; and materials engineering that supports manufacturing at scale. Kioxia describes itself as a global supplier of flash memory and solid-state drives.
EPIC, short for Equipment and Process Innovation and Commercialization, is Applied's new research hub. Applied calls it the largest-ever US investment in advanced semiconductor equipment research and development, with capital spending expected to scale to approximately $5 billion as projects begin. Applied says the center is designed to sharply reduce the time it takes to commercialize new chipmaking technology and will be operationally ready in 2026.
Applied chief executive Gary Dickerson said AI infrastructure needs memory with "dramatically higher density, greater bandwidth and improved energy efficiency." Kioxia president and chief executive Hiroo Ota said the collaboration reflects a shared commitment to memory innovation. Prabu Raja, who leads Applied's semiconductor products group, said cost and complexity make density gains hard, requiring advances across materials, equipment and process technology.
Kioxia is not the first memory maker to sign on. According to TrendForce, Applied said in February that Samsung would join the center, and on March 10 it announced a long-term research partnership with SK hynix on DRAM and high-bandwidth memory (HBM) at EPIC. TrendForce also reported that Applied's partnership with Micron draws on the EPIC Center and Micron's innovation hub in Boise, Idaho. Neither Applied nor Kioxia disclosed financial terms, a timeline or specific products.
The numbers
- EPIC Center capital spending
- Expected to scale to about $5 billion (Applied Materials)
- EPIC Center readiness
- Operationally ready in 2026 (Applied Materials)
- Planned 2026 AI infrastructure spending by Big Tech
- $630 billion (TrendForce, citing Reuters, March 2026)
- DRAM share of Applied's semiconductor systems sales
- 34% in fiscal Q1 2026, up from 28% (TrendForce)
Why CEOs should care
For companies buying servers and storage for AI, memory is a cost and supply line to watch, but this deal will not change prices or availability soon. It is a research partnership with no disclosed timeline. What it signals is where future flash and stacked-memory designs are being worked out, and that Applied's lab is becoming a shared development hub for memory makers including Samsung, SK hynix, Micron and Kioxia. Infrastructure teams planning multi-year storage refreshes should ask suppliers how their roadmaps for denser flash line up with those plans.
For CFOs and boards, the pattern matters more than any single deal. TrendForce, citing Reuters, reported in March that Big Tech companies including Google, Microsoft and OpenAI planned to invest $630 billion in 2026 to expand AI infrastructure, fueling soaring memory demand. It also reported that memory-related equipment has become a growth engine for chip toolmakers, with DRAM rising to 34% of Applied's semiconductor systems sales in the first quarter of its fiscal 2026, from 28% the quarter before. Businesses whose costs depend on memory pricing should track whether new capacity keeps pace with that demand.
For product and engineering leaders building AI hardware or storage products, the research areas preview design trade-offs to come. Multi-chip stacking and advanced packaging aim to put more capacity into constrained form factors, which bears on device design and on which suppliers can deliver.
The bigger picture
Chip equipment makers are positioning themselves as the place where memory makers work through their hardest manufacturing problems, rather than simply selling tools. TrendForce described Samsung's EPIC arrangement as teams working side by side to fast-track new technology to market. For Applied, having several rival memory makers in the same program could deepen its role in their roadmaps. For the memory makers, it is a way to tap equipment and materials expertise early in development, when design choices are still open.
What’s next
Watch for the EPIC Center's formal opening, which Applied has said will be operationally ready in 2026, and for the first results credited to these partnerships, such as new memory structures moving from the lab into production tools. Also watch Kioxia's next flash generations for signs of the stacking and packaging work described in the announcement, and whether Applied adds more memory partners to the center.
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