An epic price surge of MLCC is coming
In June 2026, MLCC (Multilayer Ceramic Capacitor), the most inconspicuous basic component in the electronics industry chain, is experiencing the strongest price increase cycle in nearly a decade.
Since the market started in late February, the spot prices of MLCCs have generally increased by 15% - 20%. The prices of high-capacity products for AI servers have even increased by 50% - 60%, and the prices of some scarce models have directly doubled. Global leading manufacturers such as Murata, Taiyo Yuden, and Samsung Electro-Mechanics have collectively adjusted their prices. The utilization rate of high-end production lines has exceeded 90%, and the delivery time for tight orders has been extended to 4 months.
This is not a simple inventory rebound, but an industrial inflection point driven by the AI computing power revolution and the upgrade of new energy vehicles.
01. The price increase wave spreads comprehensively
This round of MLCC price increases started with channel inventory replenishment and then quickly spread to the original manufacturers, showing the characteristics of "high-end leading the increase, all products rising".
From 2022 to February 2026, the MLCC industry went through a four-year de-stocking cycle. Channel distributors generally adopted a "zero inventory" strategy and were afraid to stock up.
In late February 2026, with the explosion of AI server orders and the recovery of new energy vehicle demand, channel distributors judged that the price inflection point had arrived. They changed their strategy from de-stocking to inventory replenishment, giving priority to hoarding scarce models with high capacitance and high value, which directly led to a rush to buy in the spot market.
As of the end of May, the spot prices of ordinary standard products have increased by 15% - 20%. The average price increase of high-capacity products such as 10μF and 20μF for AI servers has reached 50% - 60%, and the prices of some special models have doubled.
The price adjustments of original manufacturers followed closely and the intensity continued to increase:
In late March, Murata announced a price increase of 15% - 35% for four series of inductors. Kemet, which was acquired by Yageo, also raised the prices of tantalum capacitors by 20%. This was Kemet's third price increase in a year.
On April 25, Taiyo Yuden, the second-largest MLCC manufacturer in Japan, announced a price increase for all product series. Among them, the prices of high-capacity products for automotive and server applications were raised by 10% - 30%, and the prices of consumer-grade standard products were raised by 6% - 13%.
At the end of May, Taiwanese manufacturer Walsin Technology followed suit, with a 10% price increase for inductors and a 5% - 15% price increase for consumer MLCCs.
In June, Samsung Electro-Mechanics has notified its agents to suspend quoting prices. The market generally expects it to adjust the prices of its entire product line synchronously in the near future, and Taiwanese and mainland manufacturers will follow suit within two weeks to one month.
Behind the price increase is the full utilization of the production capacity of leading manufacturers. Currently, the utilization rate of Murata's high-end automotive and server production lines has reached 95%, close to full capacity, and the comprehensive utilization rate is about 88%. The utilization rate of Samsung Electro-Mechanics' high-capacity server production line is over 90%, and the average utilization rate is 85%. The utilization rate of Taiyo Yuden's high-end products has also exceeded 90%.
Among mainland manufacturers, the utilization rate of Sanhuan Group's high-capacity production line exceeds 90%, and the comprehensive utilization rate is 86%. The proportion of automotive-grade products of Fenghua Hi-Tech is nearly 15%, and the overall utilization rate is 82%, an increase of 7 percentage points compared with the same period in 2025. The delivery time for some tight orders has been extended from the normal 6 - 8 weeks to 4 months, indicating the tense supply and demand situation.
The low inventory level provides a solid foundation for the price increase. Currently, the inventory of channel distributors is only 1 to 1.5 months, far lower than the historical average of 6 to 7 months in 2018 and 4.5 months from 2019 to 2022.
Downstream end customers are also in a low inventory state. In the past three years, to optimize capital occupation, customers generally adopted a "purchase on demand" strategy. Now, with the recovery of demand, the end inventory replenishment cycle has started, gradually driving up the capacity utilization rate of mid - and low - end products.
02. The core of supply - demand mismatch
The sustainability of this round of MLCC price increases far exceeds market expectations. The core reason lies in the rigid constraints on the supply side that cannot be quickly broken through, rather than short - term inventory fluctuations.
The most critical constraint is the huge capacity loss when converting standard products to high - capacity products. The capacitance requirements of AI servers for MLCCs increase exponentially. The 0402 size 1μF products are commonly used in ordinary consumer electronics, while NVIDIA servers require a large number of 10μF or even 20μF products of the same size.
The capacitance of MLCCs is proportional to the number of dielectric layers. With a fixed size, a 1μF product only needs to stack 50 layers, a 10μF product needs to stack 500 layers, and a 20μF product needs thousands of layers. This means that the man - hours and material consumption in processes such as lamination, batching, and tape casting increase by at least 10 times, and the comprehensive capacity loss is about 1:5. A production line that could originally produce 50,000 standard products a day can produce less than 10,000 high - capacity products a day after conversion.
The yield problem further magnifies the capacity gap. The yield of standard MLCCs is stable above 90%, while it is extremely difficult to improve the yield of high - capacity products for AI servers.
When Samsung Electro - Mechanics supplied products to NVIDIA in the first half of 2025, the yield was once less than 60%, and it took more than half a year to increase it to 80%. Employees need additional time to adapt to the new process and solve quality problems, which makes the speed of capacity release far lower than market expectations.
Secondly, there is a long expansion cycle for high - end production lines. For mid - and low - end MLCC production lines, the expansion cycle is about half a year on the premise of existing factories, and domestic manufacturers can independently provide most of the production equipment. However, the expansion cycle for high - end and high - capacity production lines is as long as 1.5 - 2 years. The core bottleneck lies in the procurement of key equipment. The high - end tape casting machines used to produce ultra - thin ceramic dielectrics below 1 micron can only be produced by a few manufacturers such as Hirano and Hirata Kiko in Japan, and the delivery cycle is as long as 16 months. High - precision lamination machines need to ensure the precise alignment of thousands of layers of stacking and also rely on imported equipment from ALPHA in Japan and Innosym in South Korea.
Judging from the expansion plans of leading manufacturers, the release of new production capacity generally lags behind demand:
Murata's investment of 560 million yen in server production capacity in Japan in the second half of 2025 is expected to be released in the fourth quarter of 2026. The additional 80 billion yen of high - end production capacity in April 2026 will not start production until the fourth quarter of 2027 for the first phase, and the second phase will be from 2028 - 2029.
The expansion plan of Samsung Electro - Mechanics' factory in the Philippines is expected to be completed in 2027, and the high - capacity production capacity from the transformation of the Tianjin factory will be gradually released in the fourth quarter of 2026.
The server production capacity of Taiyo Yuden in South Korea is expected to be completed in 2027.
This means that at least before the first half of 2027, the supply - demand gap for high - end and high - capacity MLCCs is difficult to be fundamentally alleviated. The market's previous concern that "Murata's increased investment in mid - and low - end production capacity will squeeze mainland manufacturers" has also been proven false. Murata's current 80 billion yen investment is all focused on high - end products, and the mid - and low - end market is no longer its strategic focus. Moreover, mainland manufacturers have firmly established their footing in terms of production capacity and technology in the mid - and low - end fields, and core customers such as Huawei and Gree will not easily switch suppliers.
03. The cost side adds fuel to the fire
In addition to the supply - demand mismatch, the price increases of the three core upstream raw materials have also become an important driving force for this round of MLCC price increases.
Ceramic powder: High - end products rely on imports, and rare earth control intensifies the shortage
The requirements for ceramic powder in high - capacity MLCCs for AI servers are extremely strict. The particle size needs to reach below 120 nanometers, and the purity needs to reach 99.99%. Otherwise, ultra - thin ceramic dielectrics cannot be produced. Currently, the global high - end ceramic powder market is dominated by Japanese manufacturers, accounting for more than 60% of the market share. Nippon Chemical is the absolute leader, and its products are even supplied to Murata. Among domestic manufacturers, Guoci Materials has made the fastest technological breakthrough. It can mass - produce powder with a particle size of 200 - 500 nanometers, and has successfully developed 150 - nanometer products. Its global market share exceeds 12%, with an annual production capacity of 12,000 tons and a reserved expansion space of 2,500 tons.
The price increase pressure of rare earth formula powder is more prominent. Automotive - grade and industrial - grade MLCCs need to add heavy rare earth elements such as europium oxide and yttrium oxide, which account for 12% of the material cost. Affected by Sino - US relations, China's export control of rare earths has become stricter, and it has become much more difficult for Japanese manufacturers to obtain heavy rare earths. Enterprises such as TDK have already experienced price increases or even production suspensions for some automotive - grade products, further driving up the cost of high - end MLCCs.
Nickel powder: Indonesia's export reduction leads to a tight supply of high - end products
Nickel powder is the core material for the internal electrodes of MLCCs. High - end products also require a particle size below 120 nanometers. The global high - end nickel powder market is mainly dominated by Showa Denko in Japan and Boqian New Materials in China. Boqian New Materials can produce nickel powder with a particle size as low as 80 nanometers and is the core supplier of Samsung Electro - Mechanics. In 2026, Indonesia reduced its nickel ore export volume by two - thirds, resulting in significant fluctuations in the global nickel ore price, which directly drove up the production cost of nickel powder. Currently, the price of high - end nickel powder has increased significantly.
PET release film: The price increase of crude oil is transmitted, and the entire industry raises prices
PET release film is a key auxiliary material for MLCC tape casting. It accounts for about 10% of the cost, and its main raw material, PET original film, comes from crude oil refining. The recent tense situation in the Middle East has led to a sharp increase in crude oil prices, directly driving up the cost of release film. Overseas manufacturers such as Toray and DuPont have taken the lead in raising prices, and domestic suppliers such as Jiemei Technology and Sidike have followed suit, further transmitting the impact to the MLCC finished product end.
04. Key concerns
At the current point in time, the price increase cycle of the MLCC industry has begun. It is expected that in the second half of 2026, the prices of high - capacity products still have a 20% - 30% increase space, and the prices of mid - and low - end products will increase by 10% - 20%. The tense supply - demand situation will continue until the first half of 2027.
Focus on two core main lines:
Main line 1: Leaders in high - capacity MLCCs, directly benefiting from the explosion of AI server demand
Sanhuan Group: The domestic benchmark for high - capacity technology, it has entered the server supply chains of Huawei and Inspur. It has the fastest capacity release and the greatest performance elasticity.
Fenghua Hi - Tech: The leader in automotive - grade MLCCs and a core target in Huawei's supply chain. Its high - capacity products are about to be sent for sampling, and it is expected to see a valuation repair.
Main line 2: Upstream core materials, benefiting from the industry's prosperity with both volume and price increasing
Guoci Materials: The domestic leader in ceramic powder, it has made technological breakthroughs in high - end products and benefits from the expansion of MLCC production capacity and the price increase of rare earths.
Boqian New Materials: The core global supplier of high - end nickel powder, with continuous capacity release and a deep - seated partnership with Samsung Electro - Mechanics.
Jiemei Technology: The domestic leader in PET release film, it has strong cost - transmission ability and high performance certainty.
05. Risk warnings
The demand for AI servers falls short of expectations, leading to a decline in high - capacity MLCC orders.
The expansion progress of leading manufacturers exceeds expectations, alleviating the supply - demand gap ahead of schedule.
The prices of raw materials such as rare earths and nickel ore fluctuate significantly, eroding corporate profits.
The demand for consumer electronics remains weak, dragging down the prices of mid - and low - end MLCCs.
06. Conclusion
MLCC, the basic component known as the "rice of the electronics industry", is undergoing a revaluation of its value in the AI era. Different from the past cycles that relied on mobile phones and PCs, the demand brought by AI servers and new energy vehicles this time is long - term and continuous. The technical barriers and rigid expansion on the supply side determine that the industry's prosperity will far exceed previous levels. For domestic manufacturers, this is not only a price increase market but also a historical opportunity to achieve high - end breakthroughs and narrow the gap with international giants.
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