IBM and Lam Research have entered into a five-year agreement to develop new materials and fabrication processes to enable sub-1nm logic scaling.

The collaboration will utilise IBM’s research facilities at the NY Creates Albany NanoTech Complex and Lam Research’s process tools, including dry resist technology, etch platforms, and deposition systems.

Both companies plan to focus on advancing High-NA EUV lithography processes and developing capabilities for increasingly complex device architectures.

The partnership aims to extend logic scaling beyond current limits by building and validating process flows for nanosheet and nanostack devices, as well as backside power delivery.

These efforts are intended to support patterning and interconnect technologies required for future generations of logic devices.

IBM and Lam Research have previously collaborated on several semiconductor technology milestones, including 7nm, nanosheet, and EUV process technologies.

IBM Semiconductors GM Mukesh Khare said: “Lam has been a critical partner to IBM for over a decade, contributing to key breakthroughs in logic scaling and device architecture such as nanosheet and the world’s first 2nm node chip, unveiled by IBM in 2021.

“We are thrilled to be expanding our collaboration to tackle the next set of challenges to enable High-NA EUV lithography and sub-1nm nodes.”

The new agreement continues this work by aiming to accelerate the industry’s adoption of advanced logic scaling techniques.

Lam Research chief technology and sustainability officer Vahid Vahedi said: “As the industry enters a new era of 3D scaling, progress depends on rethinking how materials, processes, and lithography come together as a single, high-density system.

“We are proud to build on our successful collaboration with IBM to drive High‑NA EUV dry resist and process breakthroughs, accelerating the development of lower power and higher performance transistors that will be critical for AI era.”

Lam Research provides wafer fabrication equipment and related services to the semiconductor sector, supporting device manufacturing across a range of applications.

In February 2025, Lam Research announced its plan to invest more than $1.2bn (Rs104.2bn) in the Indian state of Karnataka over the coming years.

The company signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Karnataka government to lease, and eventually purchase, a land parcel owned by the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) in Whitefield, Bengaluru.