Corporate

Applied Materials was named among Technology Review’s 2012 TR50, which lists the world's 50 most innovative companies, for the third consecutive year.  Applied is recognized for “helping lower the cost of solar power through a new innovative manufacturing system that allows solar producers to increase the output and efficiency of their cells.”

 Click on the graphic to expand the image.We’ve all seen it happen many times, especially during major events such as the post-thanksgiving Black Friday, Cyber Monday and holiday sales: gadgets that were expensively priced for early adopters are suddenly affordable and accessible to the average person, which in turn spur a jump in demand. A 55-inch 3D LED TV, for example, that retailed for more than $3000 USD not too long ago now sells for about $1300 (and it comes with a 3D Blu-ray player and 4 sets of 3D glasses!) Similarly, a respectable laptop PC can cost less than $300 USD these days when they were more than $2000 just a couple years back. My 486 desktop computer used to be two grand! Aside from consumer electronics, we’re seeing similar trends of cost reduction in industries such as solar and LED lighting. A photovoltaic (PV) solar module that used to cost more than $5 per watt five years ago now goes for about $1.50 per watt. LED light bulbs for general lighting sold for more than $40 per bulb in hardware stores two years ago now sell for less than $20, and I am sure they will be comparably priced with today’s CFL bulb in the near future.So how do these incredibly technologically advanced products become so affordable? The answer is technology and scale.

Following is a list of Applied Materials' top 10 blog posts of 2011.

Applied Materials has a long history of supporting arts in our neighborhood communities and this year we had the pleasure to collaborate with San Jose State University (SJSU) to design our 2011 Holiday E-Card. A team of young, impressive, and highly creative students from the Animation/Illustration’s “Shrunken Head Man Club” within SJSU’s Art Department did an outstanding job of creating a family (literally) of semiconductor and LCD enabling products and made them come to life in a fun and whimsical way. Enjoy and Happy Holidays!

On Thursday, Applied Materials Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer George Davis was named CFO of the Year at the San Jose/Silicon Valley Business Journal’s annual CFO of the Year Awards celebrating the success of the valley’s top finance chiefs . 

  Today, we are honored to announce that Thomson Reuters has named Applied Materials as a 2011 Top 100 Global Innovator, recognizing the company’s achievements as one of the world’s most innovative companies.

Today is significant for two reasons: first, it’s Applied Materials’ 44th anniversary—we’ve come a long way since 1967—working with amazing people, developing great products and creating an innovative culture; and secondly, it’s now official —Applied Materials and Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates have become one company, combining the best of each to help the world’s leading chip makers solve the challenges of today’s increasingly more complex transistors.

After more than four years of convoluted negotiations (both bilaterally and domestically), Congress today finally approved the legislation necessary to ratify and implement the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA). This long overdue action is an important step in U.S. trade policy, and will help open new opportunities and new markets. And the agreement was ratified just in time to welcome South Korea’s President Lee Myung-bak to a joint meeting of Congress on Thursday afternoon and to the White House for a state dinner on Thursday evening.The KORUS FTA bill was approved as part of a package of trade-related measures, which also included agreements with Colombia and Panama and an extension of Trade Adjustment Assistance program for displaced U.S. workers. In total, it is estimated that these three agreements would boost U.S. exports by about $13 billion annually – with approximately $10-$11 billion alone stemming from implementation of the KORUS FTA.

Applied Materials announced the signing of a definitive merger agreement under which Applied will acquire Varian for $63 per share in cash for a total price of approximately $4.9 billion on a fully-diluted basis.The acquisition will extend Applied's leadership in wafer fabrication equipment (WFE) with the addition of the technology leader in ion implantation - a critical step in integrated circuit manufacturing.