the muscle still comes from outside

The United States has embarked on a journey: that of technological sovereignty. It is something that others share powers like Europe and China in search of a scenario in which they do not depend on foreign countries to develop their industry. The American country is investing huge amounts of money pursuing that goal, but it is running into a problem: although its industry is growing, it is doing so thanks to foreign muscle.

And that means that the usual ones continue to dominate, but now on American soil.

In short. Applied Materials is an American company that supplies semiconductor manufacturing services, software, and equipment. It is the second largest supplier of semiconductor equipment in the world, only behind ASML -the European who dominates the conversation-. The US wants to change that and is investing to achieve it.

To this end, they have just signed a research alliance with Micron and SK Hynix, two of the giants in the memory market and, although no amounts have been detailed, it represents another high-profile acquisition for the EPIC Center.

EPIC. That modest name comes from ‘Equipment and Process Innovation and Commercialization’, and is the spearhead of American investment in semiconductors. It is a $5 billion facility in the heart of Silicon Valley and it is expected that it can begin operating sooner rather than later.

It is the country’s largest investment in research and development of advanced semiconductor equipment and, with an impressive 16,700 m2 clean room, the idea is accelerate development of equipment and processes to create advanced memory chips. EPIC still does not want to eat ASML’s toast, but the foundations are definitely being laid for the US to achieve that technological independence that it does not have right now. Even Intel, the great american foundrydepends on advanced ASML machines, for example.

The ‘Galacticos’ of AI. For now, EPIC will focus on researching and developing machines that allow advanced memory chips to be created in a shorter cycle than what they currently require, which is between 10 and 15 years. And there SK Hynix and Micron have a lot to contribute.

They are two of the largest advanced memory companies for artificial intelligence and, as pointed out Reutersentering as founding partners in the EPIC Center will accelerate the development of next-generation memory chips that seem crucial to keep pace with the demands of artificial intelligence.

But… do you know What other company has Applied Materials signed? to be part of EPIC? To Samsung, the company that, together with SK Hynix and Micron, leads the baton of memory High bandwidth for AI. It is a very interesting strategic move because Samsung and SK Hynix are already manufacturing the HBM4 memory for the NVIDIA Vera Rubin platformbut by combining efforts in a center like EPIC, they will be able to shorten deadlines for future generations.

YoSouth Korean invasion. Obviously, each company will continue to wage war on its own and invest in R&D to be able to win the race in the sector, but as members of the EPIC Center, they will also contribute their grain of sand and experience to accelerate the development of future technologies. Micron, for example, focusing on high-bandwidth memories, NAND and DRAM. And SK Hynix researching materials for memory chips and advanced 3D packaging for next-generation DRAM and HBM.

But there is a “little problem”: two of the three are foreigners. One of Donald Trump’s objectives to recover the American industrial fabric was for American companies with American workers to take the lead. It was one of the reasons for ‘rescue’ with 2 billion dollars to an Intel that was somewhat misplaced and that is reborn from its ashes, pointing out ways to be the great american foundry.

But with the search for solutions for AI and to stop depending so much on the European ASML, the US is finding that foreign companies are the ones that are arriving with muscle and money. Samsung and SK Hynix are South Korean, but they are not the only ones gaining ground in the country.

And Taiwanese. TSMC It is the other proper name. The Taiwanese giant is looking to expand in case things get ugly between China and Taiwan. They have been for years analyzing a project in Germany and in Japanbut they already have a plant in the United States and are making more land to expand its facilities.

So… yes, the United States is reindustrializing and taking steps to be an important entity in the semiconductor manufacturing industry. But, curiously, much of that muscle to promote technological sovereignty continues to come from outside.

Images | TSMCIntel

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