"‘Electronic rice’ becomes ‘electronic gold’? MLCC prices skyrocket: high-end products increase 3 to 5 times in price within a year, spot prices change every 30 minutes."

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The surge in AI server construction has made MLCC (Multilayer Ceramic Capacitor), known as the "electronic rice," extremely popular, even being jokingly referred to as "electronic gold" now. Spot prices for high-end products have soared by up to 3-5 times within the year, with prices in Shenzhen’s Huaqiangbei market changing as quickly as every 30 minutes. A structural supply shortage driven by AI demand is sweeping across the global MLCC market.

According to Digitimes, this round of price increases is focused on high-capacity and high-temperature specifications such as 22μF and 47μF, with prices for some AI server MLCC products skyrocketing from around 80 RMB per thousand pieces at the beginning of the year to over 350 RMB; prices for certain products in Shenzhen and Shanghai fluctuate daily. TrendForce reports that since the start of the market surge in late February, overall MLCC spot prices have risen by 15%-20%, while high-capacity components for AI servers have seen price jumps of 50%-60%.

The supply side is under comprehensive pressure. Leading manufacturers like Murata have tightened shipment controls, with the delivery rate for orders in the millions to tens of millions only around 10%-20%. Some overseas suppliers have also resumed bundled sales strategies. Murata, Taiyo Yuden, and Samsung Electro-Mechanics have collectively raised prices, utilization rates of high-end production lines have exceeded 90%, and delivery times for tight orders have been extended to around four months.

Global cloud service providers (CSPs) are accelerating the deployment of proprietary ASIC accelerators, restructuring MLCC usage per card from the demand side—as an example, design changes on the AMD MI450 platform have caused the usage of 47μF specification MLCCs per board to surge by 632%. Because high-end production line construction cycles last as long as 18-24 months, TrendForce believes that the risk of a structural shortage in the second half of 2026 can no longer be ignored. Goldman Sachs forecasts that MLCC will be the third largest cost item in AI servers after GPUs and memory, with related demand expected to grow 4.3-fold from 2025 to 2030.

Huaqiangbei Spot Market: Price Increases Sweep Entire Product Line

According to media reports, a Huaqiangbei trader revealed that spot prices for certain MLCC models have risen from about 10 RMB per thousand pieces to about 40 RMB (roughly $5.90). Another supplier, who represents both Samsung Electro-Mechanics and the domestic Chaozhou Three-Circle Group, said popular specifications, including 0805 22μF, have seen price increases of more than twenty times.

Price hikes are not limited to high-capacity products. A trader specializing in Samsung MLCCs stated that since May, prices for all models have risen sharply, with prices per reel for some specifications climbing from 100 RMB to 400–500 RMB. Supply shortages have intensified—during an inquiry for Murata 1206 47μF (476), 10V, X5R specification products, four out of five traders said they had no spot goods available.

Domestic manufacturers are also feeling supply and demand pressure. Reports indicate Fenghua Hi-Tech’s price quotes for some products have now reached levels comparable to imported brands; the domestic delivery cycle for high-end specifications has extended from the usual 3-6 weeks to over 20 weeks, and even ordinary specifications now exceed 12 weeks.

AI Platform Design Iterations: Per-Board Usage Surge Drives Demand Shift

TrendForce’s latest industry research shows that global cloud service providers (CSPs) are accelerating the advancement of proprietary ASIC accelerators in the AI arms race, driving consistent increases in demand for small package, high-capacity, high-temperature-resistant MLCCs. Next-generation AI accelerator platforms frequently change design at the final certification stage, directly boosting high-end MLCC usage per board.

TrendForce data indicates that during the material list (BOM) verification for the AMD MI450 platform, all aluminum electrolytic capacitors and tantalum capacitors were replaced by MLCCs, causing the per-board usage of 47μF 2.5V X6S 0402 MLCCs to surge from 1,440 to 10,544 pieces, an increase of 632%. On Nvidia’s Vera Rubin platform, the per-board demand for 100μF 4V X6S 0805 MLCCs rose from 320 pieces to 500.

AI servers use about 8-12 times more MLCCs than conventional servers. This scale difference, paired with the long-term growth trend in AI computing power requirements, is structurally remolding the entire MLCC industry’s supply-demand dynamics.

Supply Bottleneck: High-End Capacity Expansion Takes 18-24 Months

High-end MLCC production lines have high technical barriers and stringent yield requirements, making it difficult for new capacity to be rapidly implemented in large quantities. It usually takes 18-24 months from construction to mass production for high-end lines, meaning the supply tightness is very likely to last until the second half of 2026 and even into 2027.

Several leading manufacturers have shifted capacity from consumer electronics such as smartphones and PCs toward high-margin AI servers and automotive applications. While this structural shift aligns with profit objectives, it further exacerbates the supply-demand imbalance for high-end products, while demand for low-capacity MLCCs for consumer electronics remains weak, resulting in a pronounced two-tier market situation.

Tight supply has also prompted bundled sales activity. Some overseas suppliers have resumed requiring customers purchasing high-capacity MLCCs to simultaneously buy mid- and low-capacity products. TrendForce points out that, unlike the universal shortage in 2018, this round’s core issue is the structural imbalance between surging AI demand and limited high-end production capacity, rather than overall supply-demand mismatch.

With overseas leading manufacturers dramatically cutting delivery rates, Chaozhou Three-Circle Group and Fenghua Hi-Tech are expected to further expand their market share through order transfers. Analysts note that, given the rigid constraints of high-end capacity expansion cycles, this supply gap cannot be bridged in the short term, and domestic manufacturers have a window to continuously absorb overflow orders.

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