Applied Materials to raise Besi stake to about 20%

Applied Materials plans to increase its investment in BE Semiconductor Industries to approximately 20% of Besi’s outstanding shares. The higher ownership level will be achieved through an accelerated share purchase agreement for additional Besi shares. Applied Materials describes the stake as a long-term investment and states that it does not intend to raise its holding beyond about 20%.

The company also indicates it has no plans to seek board representation at Besi. Under the new investment, Applied Materials will hold around one-fifth of the Dutch chip assembly equipment manufacturer’s equity, reinforcing its position as Besi’s largest shareholder.

Applied Materials has entered into an accelerated share purchase agreement to acquire the additional Besi shares. Delivery of these shares is conditioned on the expiration or termination of the applicable waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976. The company’s intention is to reach roughly 20% ownership once this regulatory review is completed.

The use of an accelerated share purchase structure allows Applied Materials to add to its existing Besi stake, which was initially established in April 2025 at 9%. The new agreement builds directly on that earlier investment while remaining within the stated cap of about 20%.

Applied Materials links the larger Besi stake to a deepening strategic collaboration focused on advanced chip-packaging technologies used in AI applications. The partnership, in place since 2020, covers hybrid bonding technology, a key packaging technique for high-performance and next-generation semiconductors. Applied Materials highlights hybrid bonding and next-generation interconnect architectures as increasingly critical for energy-efficient AI compute performance.

Besi has recently joined Applied Materials’ EPIC Center as an Innovation Partner, further integrating the companies’ development activities. Joint work spans hybrid bonding, interconnect architectures, 3D IC scaling, logic and memory integration, thermo-compression bonding, and die-on-wafer, die-on-die and die-on-panel integration platforms. Applied Materials’ increased ownership is positioned as a way to support and expand this co-innovation roadmap.

Applied Materials and Besi operate in complementary segments of the semiconductor equipment market, with Besi manufacturing assembly equipment and Applied Materials supplying a broad range of chip fabrication and packaging technologies. Their collaboration is aimed at enabling advanced packaging solutions that address performance and energy-efficiency needs in AI and other high-performance computing applications.

By boosting its stake to about 20%, Applied Materials underscores the importance it places on Besi’s role in these technologies while maintaining Besi’s independent governance structure. The combination of a defined ownership cap, no board seat intentions, and a multi-year technology partnership frames the investment as a strategic but non-controlling position tied to long-term innovation goals.