Applied Materials to raise its BE Semiconductor stake to about 20% from 9%

Applied Materials said on Oct 26 that it signed an accelerated share purchase agreement to raise its holding in BE Semiconductor Industries (Besi), the Dutch maker of chip assembly equipment, to about 20% of Besi's outstanding shares [1][2]. Applied has held about 9% since its first investment in April 2025 and is Besi's largest shareholder, Reuters reported [3]. Besi has a market value of about $13 billion, according to Bloomberg [4].

• Delivery of the shares depends on the expiry or termination of the US antitrust waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act [1].
• Applied said it views the stake as long term, has no current plan to go beyond about 20% and will not seek a seat on Besi's board [1][2].
• The companies have worked together since 2020 on hybrid bonding, an advanced packaging technique used in high-performance chips [3].
• Besi has joined Applied's EPIC Center as an Innovation Partner, extending joint work to 3D chip stacking, logic and memory integration and thermo-compression bonding [1].

Applied reports its fourth-quarter and fiscal 2026 results on Nov 12 [5].