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President Obama Visits Applied Materials

May102013

President Barack Obama visited Applied Materials Austin to tour one of our semiconductor manufacturing lines and to deliver remarks on making America a magnet for good jobs.

Corporate, Semiconductors

WATCH LIVE: President Obama Speaks at Applied Materials

By Applied Blog

May92013

U.S. President Barack Obama will visit Applied Materials in Austin, Texas today to tour one of our semiconductor manufacturing lines and deliver remarks on making America a magnet for new jobs and manufacturing.

Corporate Responsibility

Insect Inspired Innovation

By Siobhan Kenney

May32013

The award-winning entry was inspired by the Namib Desert Beetle, but other teams used solar-powered hot plates, conifer bark filters, and reverse osmosis in their projects engineered to provide “Clean Water for All” as part of the Applied Materials Clean Tech Competition.

Corporate Responsibility

Singapore’s Young Innovators Address Real World Problems

By Bipasha Bhattacharya

Apr222013

The Applied Materials Clean Tech Competition (CTC), a research and design challenge program for 15-18 year old students, attracted overwhelming interest in Singapore with participation from 330 students, forming 91 teams across 23 schools.

Launched for the first time in Singapore, this annual competition aims to address a significant global issue, and this year’s theme focused on “Clean Water for All.”

Following months of vigorous prototyping, innovative research and design, Hwa Chong Institution emerged as the winner of the Applied Materials Clean Tech Competition in Singapore. Their team’s innovative project on utilising calcium carbonate found in clam shells to remove toxic metal ions from waste water showcased their talent to solve critical global water problems through affordable eco-friendly solutions.

Corporate Responsibility

Improving the Way We Live on Earth Day and Every Day

By Siobhan Kenney

Apr192013

Applied Materials employees are taking to the streets, the mountains, the parks and the classrooms as part of the Company’s EarthWorks campaign that celebrates Earth Day and encourages employees and their families to learn, explore and get involved this Spring.

Over the next few weeks, we will be planting trees in Alzenau, Germany, enjoying an Earth Day festival in San Jose, California, and participating in cleanup projects at Mount Fuji in Japan and at various historical sites in Korea. “Litter Gitters” will be out in full force in Whitefish, Montana and Austin, Texas employee volunteers will join the “sweep” of the city to remove waste.

Semiconductors

Parametric Characterization of TSVs

By Niranjan Kumar

Apr182013

Paving the way for the manufacture of 3D-integrated stacked chips, technologists and engineers at Applied Materials have recently completed electrical characterization of through-silicon via (TSV) structures. This development is vitally important since TSVs are the vertical interconnections that carry power and high-bandwidth speed signals between the stacked die of layered logic and memory devices.

The critical functions performed by TSVs require thorough mechanical and electrical characterization.

Corporate

Applied Material Hosts Congressman Lamar Smith

By Mike Dabbs

Apr112013

Applied Materials recently hosted Congressman Lamar Smith, representative for the 21st Congressional District of Texas, at the company’s Austin facility for an in-depth overview of the semiconductor industry, global challenges and opportunities ahead and Applied’s leadership role in the industry.

Congressman Smith chairs the influential Science, Space and Technology Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives, which has jurisdiction over important programs within the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Science Foundation.

Careers

Applied Materials CEO Tells Students to Follow their Passion

By Pearl Tan

Apr42013

Recently more than 270 students from National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) in Hsinchu, Taiwan, crowded into the campus auditorium to hear Mike Splinter, Chairman and CEO of Applied Materials deliver a talk about the fast-paced and challenging environment of the semiconductor industry.

Careers, Corporate, Semiconductors

Applied Celebrates Randhir Thakur’s Elevation to IEEE Fellow

By Kathryn Ta, Ph.D.

Apr22013

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, (IEEE) has bestowed the title of Fellow on Dr. Randhir Thakur, executive vice president and general manager of Applied Materials’ Silicon Systems Group, for his groundbreaking contributions to microchip fabrication.

To celebrate Randhir’s ongoing achievements, we made this video highlighting one of the semiconductor industry’s most prolific inventors and successful leaders.

Automation Software, Semiconductors

Mining Big Data to Deliver Big Results

By John Scoville

Mar282013

More than 2.5 million terabytes of “Big Data” is created every day – a truly astronomical sum. The challenge is how to extract strategic insight and actionable information from these mountains of data.

Semiconductor Manufacturing and Design magazine recently examined Big Data in microchip fabrication. The article includes perspectives from leading chipmakers and discusses Applied’s remarkable data-mining technology as a solution.

Corporate

Redefining the Speed of Business

By Kevin Winston

Mar252013

In a fast-moving world, disruptive technological change is a constant, and for most companies, one of the central challenges of the coming decades will be how to innovate fast enough to stay ahead of customer needs

Emerging Technologies, Semiconductors

Areas of Opportunity for Corporate Venture Investing

By Eileen Tanghal, Joe Dews (Guest Blogger)

Mar212013

The past two years have seen a significant decline in the number of venture firms making new investments in the Energy Technology and Semiconductor sectors. As a result, it has become increasingly difficult for private companies raising capital in these sectors.

Increasingly, corporate investors are playing a critical role in financing companies in these sectors, with 54% of energy tech and 24% of semiconductor private financing rounds in 2012 including one or more corporate investors¹.

As the funding for energy tech and semiconductor startups from traditional financing sources has weakened, Applied Ventures continues to be a strong supporter of new thinking that will drive these sectors.