Overview
- Applied Materials announced a definitive agreement to buy ASMPT’s NEXX business, a supplier of large-area deposition tools for advanced chip packaging, with terms not disclosed.
- NEXX brings panel-level electrochemical deposition, a process that plates metal to create fine wiring on large substrates used to connect chiplets and memory in one package.
- Applied says adding ECD rounds out its packaging lineup that already includes lithography, PVD, CVD, etch, and inspection tools to support co-designed manufacturing flows.
- The companies expect the transaction to close in the coming months subject to customary conditions, and Applied says no regulatory approvals are required.
- After closing, the NEXX team will join Applied’s Semiconductor Products Group in Billerica, Massachusetts, as the industry shifts from 300 mm wafers to larger panels—about 510 by 515 mm—to fit bigger interposers for 2.5D and 3D chiplet designs.