应用材料CEO借EPIC中心开幕称未来几年营收有望翻倍但员工数不会同步翻倍，主打AI提效

Applied Materials Inc. expects to double revenue over the next few years, without a commensurate rise in hiring, because it’s relying more on artificial intelligence tools for things like product development and quality control.

“As we double the size of the company over the next few years, we’re not going to be doubling headcount,” Gary Dickerson, chief executive officer of the chip-equipment maker, said in an interview.

The CEO made the remarks ahead of a company event to mark the opening of a facility for equipment, process innovation and commercialization, known as the EPIC Center. The building — created with a $5 billion capital investment — is meant to help chipmakers work with researchers and equipment partners to speed the pace of development.

Applied Materials, the biggest US producer of chipmaking machinery, is benefiting from a surge in demand for gear to fuel the artificial intelligence boom. It’s using AI tools itself for innovation and product development, along with figuring out ways to improve semiconductor yields — the percentage of usable chips produced from silicon wafers.

“More good chips are worth a lot of money to our customers,” he said. The company is using AI in the field with clients to accelerate the “number of good chips per wafer, and the number of wafers per day.”

Dickerson declined to give headcount forecasts for the coming years. The company had about 38,900 employees as late July.

The executive noted that Applied Materials is hiring in certain places where AI is enabling massive gains in productivity, with increases reaching about 50% in some cases.

The Sunnyvale, California-based EPIC Center was built in partnership with Applied Materials customers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Intel Corp., Samsung Electronics Co., Micron Technology Inc. and SK Hynix Inc. It’s 600,000 square feet (56,000 square meters), with almost four acres of advanced clean-room space for working with chips. The company said the concrete used was enough to fill 34 Olympic-sized swimming pools, and the steel involved could have built two Eiffel Towers.

While Dickerson said there are short-term concerns that could create speed bumps to the AI build-out — such as shortfalls in financing, supplies, energy and production capacity — the growth will be “transformative” over time.

“Are there things that, in the short term, can slow down the rate of growth? Sure,” he said. “But the growth is going to be significant in any scenario.”