One of the biggest developments for Arizona's semiconductor industry this week actually happened in California.

Applied Materials unveiled its new $5 BILLION EPIC Center, a massive research facility dedicated to developing the next generation of semiconductor manufacturing technology.

Its founding partners include TSMC, Intel, Samsung, Micron and SK hynix and other industry giants.

And among its inaugural university research partners? Arizona State University.

That's a much bigger deal for Arizona than it might initially appear.

Why This Matters to Arizona

We've already attracted enormous investments in semiconductor manufacturing, most notably TSMC's expansion in Phoenix. Arizona has firmly established itself as one of THE most important places on Earth when it comes to semiconductor (and related) technologies.

But manufacturing chips designed and developed elsewhere only captures part of the economic opportunity.

The real long-term prize is helping develop the technologies that future generations of chips will depend on.

That's where ASU (Arizona State University) comes in.

The EPIC Center brings university researchers together with leading chipmakers and the actual equipment used in advanced semiconductor manufacturing.

Instead of spending years trying to turn laboratory discoveries into commercially viable technologies, researchers can work directly with industry experts to develop and test new ideas.

Arizona now has a direct connection to that process.

And it gets better.

ASU and Applied Materials already opened a separate $270 MILLION Materials-to-Fab Center in Tempe in 2025.

That facility gives researchers, students and startups access to industrial-grade manufacturing equipment to develop and test semiconductor technologies.

What Arizona Stands to Gain

Together, these partnerships create some very tangible opportunities:

  • Arizona researchers: Access to advanced equipment and industry expertise to help turn discoveries into commercially useful technologies.
  • Arizona students: Practical experience with the equipment and manufacturing challenges they'll encounter in the semiconductor industry.
  • Arizona startups: Opportunities to test new materials, processes and technologies without having to build enormously expensive facilities.
  • Arizona businesses: Stronger connections to semiconductor research and potential opportunities to develop specialized equipment, materials and manufacturing solutions.

None of this guarantees the next major semiconductor breakthrough will come from Arizona.

But it puts us in a much stronger position to compete for it.

Because I don't want Arizona to become merely the place where foreign and out-of-state companies build their factories.

I want Arizona to become a place where semiconductor technologies are invented, developed, manufactured and commercialized.

That's how we turn today's enormous investments into an industry that continues creating opportunities here for decades.

And partnerships like this are an important step in that direction.