Athinia to Accelerate the Use of AI and Big Data to Solve Critical Semiconductor Challenges

DARMSTADT, Germany, and DENVER, Dec. 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, a leading science and technology company, and Palantir Technologies Inc. (NYSE:PLTR), a leading builder of operating systems for the modern enterprise, today announced a new partnership to deliver a secure collaborative data analytics platform for the semiconductor industry. The Athinia platform will leverage AI and big data to solve critical challenges such as chip shortages, improve quality and supply chain transparency, and time to market. Laura Matz, Chief Science and Technology Officer of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, will lead the partnership as CEO of Athinia.

Athinia will bring semiconductor manufacturers and materials suppliers together to share, aggregate, and analyze data to unlock efficiencies. The platform will also enable industry actors to understand on a deeper level the interaction between materials and processes at semiconductor fabrication plants.

"The semiconductor industry is facing unprecedented disruption. This has created a critical need for a secure data collaboration platform that can provide the transparency and data intelligence companies need to solve challenges such as chip shortages and supply chain issues," said Kai Beckmann, Member of the Executive Board of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, and CEO Electronics. "Partnering with Palantir, we've combined our collective expertise in materials science, data analytics and security to increase our customers' efficiencies and time to innovation."

"We are excited to partner with market leaders in this space to create an ecosystem that will enable semiconductor companies and their suppliers to collaborate to make better decisions, combatting simultaneous demand and supply shocks," said Palantir COO Shyam Sankar.  "Athinia will help companies across the value chain bring new products to market faster and accelerate their product differentiation and growth."

By harnessing Palantir's unique experience in building inter-organization ecosystems, Athinia will enable advanced data analytics, in turn limiting the costly impact of quality or performance excursions across the value chain, from supplier to semiconductor fabrication plants. It will also help fabs manage faster innovation in manufacturing processes in a single, secure platform that will support improved incoming material quality and increase supplier engagement. Suppliers will benefit from internal efficiency gains through smart data integration and can be a better partner for the fabs they serve. The partnership will help solve such challenges by creating a platform to analyze previously siloed data in a holistic way.

Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, and Palantir have already proven to be successful in using collaborative data analytics to help common customers minimize quality deviations and increase efficiencies. Athinia will build upon this experience and leverage Palantir's expertise to help customers improve their decision-making in optimizing semiconductor materials.

Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, has recently worked with leading semiconductor companies to leverage AI and data analytics for solving key challenges. "We worked with Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, to create a data sharing platform that enabled advanced predictive manufacturing for chemical mechanical polishing (CMP), a critical step in the semiconductor manufacturing process. Through this collaborative partnership, we implemented an AI-driven methodology to enable smart data collaboration that drove process and quality improvements. By extending this approach to the broader supply chain and enabling a data ecosystem, we believe advanced predictive manufacturing can be accelerated for the broader semiconductor industry," said Raj Narasimhan, Corporate Vice President, Global Quality, Micron Technology, Inc.

The Athinia platform is powered by Palantir Foundry, which enables users to structure and analyze data from disparate sources, generate powerful insights and support operational decisions, all while helping to ensure that sensitive data is processed in accordance with applicable data privacy rules, regulations, and norms. Palantir Foundry is designed to provide world-class security, access controls, partitioning, auditing, and accountability functions to support responsible data use. Athinia acts independent from the Electronics business sector of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, and enables data sharing only on codified and anonymized data and customers will retain full control of their data, including intelligent purpose-based access control management. The secure data collaboration environment will provide continuous feedback through a holistic view and a common operating picture of in-fab performance that can help solve quality deviations.

Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, and Palantir already started collaborating in 2017. Through the partnership "Syntropy" both companies are determined to unleash the power of biomedical data and revolutionize cancer therapy and accelerate research. Syntropy's aim is to provide researchers with intuitive analytics techniques to enable them to aggregate, analyze and then also share data from disparate sources.

For more information about Athinia, visit the website or social media channels:
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All Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, press releases are distributed by e-mail at the same time they become available on the EMD Group Website. In case you are a resident of the USA or Canada please go to www.emdgroup.com/subscribe to register for your online subscription of this service as our geo-targeting requires new links in the email. You may later change your selection or discontinue this service.

About Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany

Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, a leading science and technology company, operates across healthcare, life science and electronics. Around 58,000 employees work to make a positive difference to millions of people's lives every day by creating more joyful and sustainable ways to live. From advancing gene editing technologies and discovering unique ways to treat the most challenging diseases to enabling the intelligence of devices – the company is everywhere. In 2020, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, generated sales of € 17.5 billion in 66 countries.

The company holds the global rights to the name and trademark "Merck" internationally. The only exceptions are the United States and Canada, where the business sectors of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany operate as EMD Serono in healthcare, MilliporeSigma in life science, and EMD Electronics. Since its founding in 1668, scientific exploration and responsible entrepreneurship have been key to the company's technological and scientific advances. To this day, the founding family remains the majority owner of the publicly listed company.

About Palantir Technologies

Palantir Technologies Inc. builds and deploys operating systems for the modern enterprise. Additional information is available at www.palantir.com.

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Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These statements may relate to, but are not limited to, Palantir's expectations regarding the terms and the expected benefits of the strategic partnership. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, some of which cannot be predicted or quantified. Forward-looking statements are based on information available at the time those statements are made and were based on current expectations as well as the beliefs and assumptions of management as of that time with respect to future events. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, many of which involve factors or circumstances that are beyond our control. These risks and uncertainties include our ability to meet the unique needs of our customers; the failure of our platforms to satisfy our customers or perform as desired; the frequency or severity of any software and implementation errors; our platforms' reliability; and our customers' ability to modify or terminate their contracts. Additional information regarding these and other risks and uncertainties is included in the filings we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. Except as required by law, we do not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments, or otherwise.

SOURCE Athinia

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