UCLA Samueli to Join Applied Materials’ EPIC Center to Accelerate Chip Innovation
Collaboration at the Silicon Valley facility pairs UCLA’s semiconductor research strength with leading industry equipment and expertise
Applied Materials
Applied Materials will unveil its 600,000-square-foot Equipment and Process Innovation and Commercialization Center at its Sunnyvale, California, campus on Oct. 12.
UCLA Samueli Newsroom
“As the industry races to bring new AI chip technologies to market, the EPIC Center will play a pivotal role by convening the industry’s top innovators in a collaborative environment designed to accelerate the path from breakthrough research to full-scale manufacturing,” said Prabu Raja, president of the Semiconductor Products Group at Applied Materials. “UCLA has a long history of semiconductor technology innovation and Applied looks forward to welcoming their researchers to the EPIC Center where together we will work to solve the industry’s toughest challenges.”
Set to be unveiled Oct. 12, the EPIC Center aims to accelerate chip research and development by bridging the gap between traditional academic innovation and industrial-scale development. UCLA researchers will have access to advanced chipmaking tools so new ideas can be validated and tested in a commercial fab environment, thereby shortening the path from concept to production.
UCLA’s Semiconductor Legacy
UCLA Samueli brings extensive expertise across semiconductor devices, materials, electronics and computing. In 1991, Henry Samueli co-founded Broadcom Corporation while teaching at UCLA. The school is also home to the Center for Heterogeneous Integration and Performance Scaling (CHIPS) Lab, which brings together researchers across disciplines to advance semiconductor technologies and address challenges in chip design, manufacturing and integration.
“Accelerating semiconductor innovation in the new era of AI requires transformative collaboration between universities and industry partners more than ever before,” said Ah-Hyung “Alissa” Park, Ronald and Valerie Sugar Dean of UCLA Samueli. “UCLA has a long history of pioneering semiconductor research and innovation, and this collaboration builds on that legacy by bringing together university research and industry expertise to advance the chip technologies that will define the future of computing while preparing the next generation of engineers.”
By collaborating at the EPIC Center, Applied Materials and UCLA will focus research and development programs on the semiconductor industry’s most critical challenges in areas including 3D chip scaling, advanced packaging and the discovery of new materials for improving energy-efficient AI compute performance. The collaboration builds on UCLA Samueli and Applied Materials’ relationship through UCLA Samueli’s Semiconductor Hub, a $125 million industry-academia initiative launched in May 2026 with Applied Materials as a co-founding member alongside Broadcom, GlobalFoundries, Meta and Synopsys. The Hub brings together UCLA researchers and industry leaders across the semiconductor ecosystem, spanning chip design, software, manufacturing, equipment and advanced materials to accelerate semiconductor technologies and workforce development.