M&A
confidence high
sentiment positive
materiality 0.65
Applied Materials to lift Besi stake to ~20% via accelerated share purchase, pending HSR review
APPLIED MATERIALS INC /DE
- Applied Materials entered an accelerated share purchase agreement for BE Semiconductor (Besi) shares, raising its stake to ~20% of Besi's outstanding stock from an initial April 2025 investment.
- Delivery of the Besi shares is conditioned on expiration or termination of the HSR Act antitrust waiting period; no purchase price, share count or deal value disclosed.
- Applied said it has no intention to increase its investment beyond ~20% and does not intend to seek board representation at Besi.
- Collaboration dates to 2020 and was recently expanded with Besi joining Applied's EPIC Center as an Innovation Partner, covering hybrid bonding, 3D IC scaling and die-on-wafer/panel.
- Prabu Raja, President of Applied's Semiconductor Products Group, framed hybrid bonding and next-gen interconnect as enablers of energy-efficient AI compute.