Wave of price hikes for passive components! The world's largest MLCC giant follows suit: announces price increase in April.

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Global leader in passive components Murata (Murata Manufacturing) announced price increases for multiple product series.

According to reports from Taiwan media quoting customer notifications, Murata of Japan has officially announced price adjustments for four types of products, covering multilayer chip ferrite beads, multilayer ferrite power inductors, multilayer RF inductors, and multilayer common mode choke coils, effective April 1, 2026.

Murata cited the soaring price of silver as the core reason. Silver, as a key raw material for the aforementioned passive components, has seen rapidly expanding demand in recent years due to increased PV installations, higher electric vehicle penetration, and accelerated investments in AI infrastructure. Its price has continued to rise, exerting significant pressure on manufacturers' cost structures.

Previously, domestic and international manufacturers such as Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Yageo, Walsin Tech, Fenghua Advanced Technology, and Sanhuan Group have all issued price increase notices for MLCCs and other passive components. Samsung Electro-Mechanics will also start its first round of price hikes in April. This means that the two major MLCC suppliers globally are now coordinated in their pricing strategies, bringing direct cost pressure to downstream buyers.

Tight supply and demand supports price increase logic, shipments expected to see double-digit growth in Q2

This price increase is not simply a cost pass-through, but is also supported by supply and demand fundamentals.

According to TrendForce analysis, due to large-scale deployments of NVIDIA GB200/300 servers and dual boosts from major cloud service providers such as AWS and Google actively advancing ASIC in-house development, demand for high-end MLCCs remains strong.

Currently, the capacity utilization rates of Murata, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, and Taiyo Yuden are all above 80%, with Murata having a particular advantage due to mastery of key advanced packaging materials. Murata's high-end MLCC orders are expected to grow by 20% to 25% quarter-on-quarter in Q1 2026, with production lines running at full capacity.

The Elec, quoting industry observers, predicts that if Murata moves forward with the price increase, Taiwan and mainland manufacturers as well as Samsung Electro-Mechanics will also follow with adjustments. The agency also expects that, driven by strong demand, MLCC industry shipments are likely to achieve double-digit quarter-on-quarter growth in the second quarter.

AI server consumption surges, supports long-term prosperity

The structural uptick in MLCC demand is closely related to the rapid expansion of AI computing infrastructure.

Data cited by The Elec shows that an ordinary smartphone contains more than 1,000 MLCCs, while an AI server motherboard uses ten to twenty times that amount. As new generations of AI servers continue to evolve, this number is expected to rise further.

This change in demand structure means that the growth focus of the MLCC market is gradually shifting from consumer electronics to high-margin data centers and industrial applications, providing Murata and other leading suppliers with stronger justification for price increases.

Taiwanese manufacturers such as Yageo and Walsin Technology are expected to benefit from the overall upward movement of price centers and expand market share by leveraging customer transfer demands.

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