Applied Materials acquires NEXX to expand panel-level packaging

Applied Materials has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the NEXX business from Hong Kong-listed ASMPT Limited, bolstering its portfolio of advanced packaging equipment with panel-level electrochemical deposition (ECD) technology. The deal is expected to close within the next several months and requires no regulatory approvals, Applied said on 4 May 2026.

NEXX, headquartered in Billerica, Massachusetts, supplies large-area deposition systems used in the manufacture of advanced semiconductor packages. Following the close, the NEXX team will be folded into Applied's Semiconductor Products Group and will continue to operate from its existing site.

The deal

The strategic rationale centres on the accelerating industry shift from 300-millimetre silicon wafers to large-format panel substrates — some measuring 510 by 515 millimetres or more — driven by the increasingly complex architectures required for AI accelerators. Modern AI chips integrate multiple GPU dies, high-bandwidth memory (HBM) stacks and I/O chiplets in a single package, using 2.5D and 3D stacking techniques that put pressure on interposer and substrate manufacturing at scale.

Applied already offers digital lithography, physical vapour deposition (PVD), chemical vapour deposition (CVD), etch, and eBeam metrology across the packaging process chain. NEXX's ECD capability closes a gap in that portfolio, particularly for fine-pitch input/output wiring on advanced substrates. Prabu Raja, President of Applied's Semiconductor Products Group, said the acquisition "complements our leadership in advanced packaging, particularly in panel processing," and pointed to co-innovation opportunities with the combined customer base.

No financial terms were disclosed. Applied did not name the customers expected to benefit first, or provide a timeline for co-optimised product releases.

Market context

Advanced packaging has become one of the most strategically contested segments in the semiconductor equipment industry. As front-end lithography approaches physical limits, chipmakers and systems integrators — including Nvidia, AMD, Intel Foundry and TSMC — are increasingly relying on packaging innovations to deliver the performance-per-watt gains demanded by AI training and inference workloads.

Applied competes in packaging equipment against Tokyo Electron, Lam Research and ASE Group, as well as specialist vendors across individual process steps. The panel-substrate transition is still nascent: most volume packaging today runs on round wafer formats, and the ecosystem of materials, resists and inspection tools for large rectangular panels is maturing in parallel with equipment investment. Whoever builds early process-of-record positions in panel ECD stands to benefit disproportionately as AI chip designs push package sizes beyond what round wafers can efficiently support.

ASMPT, the seller, is itself a major assembly and packaging equipment group; divesting NEXX suggests a portfolio rationalisation towards its core wire-bonding and surface-mount businesses rather than a retreat from the packaging equipment market overall.

Regulatory and standards read-across

Applied has stated that no regulatory approvals are required to close the transaction, a notable contrast to recent semiconductor-sector M&A that has attracted scrutiny from US, EU and Chinese authorities. The absence of a required antitrust filing likely reflects NEXX's relatively narrow product scope and the complementary — rather than overlapping — nature of the two companies' portfolios.

Export-control considerations remain a background factor for the broader advanced packaging market. US Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) restrictions on advanced semiconductor equipment exports to China affect equipment vendors' addressable markets; panel-level packaging tools are not yet subject to the same licensing burdens as leading-edge front-end lithography, but the regulatory perimeter has been expanding and buyers in restricted geographies will be monitoring developments closely.