MLCC signals recovery as AI servers become main driver

Chip multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) are known as “electronic rice” because of their ubiquitous application. In today's explosive growth of AI, MLCC in the field of servers, the amount is only a little more, and with the energy efficiency requirements and heat dissipation system continues to improve, will create more medium and high-level product applications, MLCC in the server material value of the total share will also be enhanced.

Recently, passive components maker Huaxinke held a law conference, said it is optimistic about the growth of AI servers, AI PCs and automotive in 2025, AI PCs are expected to usher in the middle of next year, shipment growth opportunities, the new specifications of the capacitor will be increased by 200-300 pcs, and AI servers to enhance the value of the MLCC embedded in a single cabinet capacitance of the Nvidia Blackwell GB200 servers more than NVIDIA Blackwell GB200 server single-cabinet capacitor more than 2,000 high-level X6S (temperature scale -55 to 105 degrees) materials, the value is higher than the traditional server of 200 U.S. dollars, part of the material number price difference of up to ten times.

Huaxin Science and Technology believes that the industry boom bottomed out this year and recovered next year, and the short-term third-quarter crop rate to maintain the previous quarter of about 75% -80%, located in the high-grade level. Huaxin Technology believes that the industry inventory has been cleaned up, due to high-frequency high-capacitance product ratio rise, driven by the overall high-level ASP rise, the third quarter of this year's revenue is expected to enter the full-year peak, the fourth quarter also has the opportunity to challenge the flat.

Overall, Huaxin Technology is optimistic that AI servers will lead to an increase in the value of passive components, mid- and high-level products will increase in price, the third quarter operation is better than the previous quarter, coupled with the fact that AI PC-related products will begin to ship in small quantities in the second half of this year, and will be released by the middle of 2025, and it is optimistic about the operation of the year 2025.

For AI applications required high-level MLCC, as the first major factory Murata (Murata) also has a layout. Not long ago, Murata announced that it has realized a capacitance of up to 100μF in the 1608M size (1.6×0.8mm), and some models of this series of new products have already begun mass production, with a temperature scale that can reach 105 degrees at the highest, which means that the material is applicable to a wider range and has more flexibility in circuit design, making it particularly suitable for complex AI server circuits.

Murata's outstanding technology to create a combination of high capacitance, high temperature resistance, small size of the MLCC products will be very conducive to take the lead in the AI market. Murata President Nakajima Gouji recently said that the AI-induced MLCC demand boom first started in servers, edge computing and other remote devices, and next year AIPC, AI cell phones and other terminal devices will take over the baton to explode. With the surge in demand, Murata's MLCC plant capacity utilization rate all the way up to meet the end demand, last quarter capacity utilization rate of about 80% to 85%, this quarter will rise to 85% to 90%.

Performance, Murata in the second quarter of this year, revenue growth of 14.7% to 421.7 billion yen, operating profit rose 32.5% to 66.4 billion yen, is the first time in nearly nine months of earnings growth. Murata attributed the second-quarter growth mainly to much higher-than-expected demand related to PCs and AI servers, which gave MLCC sales a significant boost, with orders continuing and capacity utilization improving significantly.

As another major manufacturer, KOKUYO, recently held an AI summit forum, where Chairman T.M. Chen emphasized that through mergers and acquisitions and transformation in recent years, KOKUYO is no longer the KOKUYO that he used to know. Under the growth trend of AI, the usage of passive components, sensors, power components, etc. has increased, and with a complete product line, KOKUYO is not only absolutely not absent from all areas of AI, but also one of the big winners in the AI market.

Chen Taming analyzed that at this stage, many applications need to import AI, at present, AI-related products in the Group's revenue accounted for about 5%, and will continue to grow, and said that “the main players in the field of global AI are the customers of National Giant”, and optimistic about the AI help the Group to enter the next stage of growth.

In general, the second half of the positive signals from the passive components than IC, AI servers, high-performance cell phones and PCs on the “electronic rice” consumption growth, creating a large number of MLCC demand. However, there is still a clear differentiation, the demand for higher-end materials is significantly better than the general type of products. With the progress of the subsequent peak season, MLCC is also expected to realize demand growth from the overall, and AI PC and other products, will be a longer-term opportunity!