MLCC Has Reached A Turning Point, with Both Incremental and Stock Markets Exploding Comprehensively

MLCC (Multi layer Ceramic Capacitors) is one of the most widely used passive devices in the electronics industry. With the development of consumer electronics, automotive electronics, industrial control, data centers and other industries, the demand for electronic components in the market has skyrocketed. As an important component of nonsource devices, MLCC is moving towards high reliability and high capacity. Affected by weak downstream demand, the shipping prices of MLCC continued to decline in 2022 and 2023, with a period of decline exceeding 14 months. In the second half of 2023, the inventory adjustment of mid to downstream enterprises that have experienced cyclical fluctuations in 2022 came to an end, and they began to readjust their procurement strategies and establish a healthy inventory level. Since entering 2024, the MLCC industry has continued to recover, and some manufacturers have also issued product price increase letters one after another.

In the past two years, with the rapid development of demand for AI server applications, the demand for high-performance MLCC has greatly increased. At the same time, the automotive and AI PC markets also have great development potential. In a smartphone, the usage of MLCC is about 1200-1500, while a laptop requires about 1000 MLCC. The MLCC usage of an AI server is usually 3000-4000, and an electric vehicle requires as many as 10000-15000 MLCCs. Passive devices are widely used in various electronic systems, and as a widely used capacitor product, MLCC is constantly increasing in usage in consumer electronics, industry, communication, the Internet of Things, as well as emerging intelligent electric vehicles and AI server applications. Faced with an increasing number of applications, the capacity, performance, and quality level division of MLCC is expected to become more detailed, and the product line is also increasing. This provides manufacturers at different stages of development with the market and space they need. Japanese MLCC giants have invested more resources and energy in the research and production of high-performance products, especially in servers, 5G base stations, and intelligent electric vehicle applications, where their technology and products have more advantages. Taiwan, China manufacturers in China follow in the footsteps of Japanese manufacturers and gradually move towards high-end products and applications. At the same time, they also have to face the pursuit of manufacturers from the Chinese Mainland. Moreover, the gap between these two forces is narrowing, and the pressure on Taiwanese manufacturers is not small. Both the leading Japanese manufacturers, the Taiwan, and China manufacturers in the middle, and the manufacturers in the Chinese Mainland that are closely followed, have coincidentally designated MLCC as the key development direction, highlighting the broad market.