Applied Materials to invest $4 billion in Silicon Valley chip research center

SANTA CLARA, California: U.S. semiconductor toolmaker Applied Materials Inc on Monday said it plans to spend up to $4 billion on a research center in the heart of Silicon Valley to speed up advances in semiconductor manufacturing.

The center, which will be based in Sunnyvale, California, will come on line in 2026 and create up to 2,000 engineering jobs, said Applied, which is the world’s biggest maker of the tools used in manufacturing chips.

The facility will host about $25 billion of research work over its first decade, pulling together staff from research universities and major chipmakers such as Intel Corp, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, among others.