Applied Materials aims to boost chip factory productivity with new tech

FILE PHOTO: A smartphone with a displayed Applied Materials logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken March 6, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Applied Materials on Tuesday released its first major update to some of its core semiconductor manufacturing equipment in more than decade, aiming to boost the number of chips factories can make while using less energy.

The new system, called Vistara, is a central hub inside chip factories that feeds silicon discs called wafers into sealed vacuum chambers, where metals and other materials can be either deposited or stripped away within a few atoms of precision.