Samsung Electro-Mechanics

Defiance ETFs has launched the Defiance AI Capacitors Leaders ETF (Cboe: CAPA), the first U.S.-listed ETF targeting the capacitor supply chain powering AI infrastructure. The fund tracks the BITA AI Capacitors Leaders Index, which holds companies deriving at least 50 percent of revenue from advanced capacitors and passive components used in AI servers, accelerators, and data centers. Top holdings include TDK Corp at 23.0 percent, Samsung Electro-Mechanics at 20.2 percent, and Murata Manufacturing at 18.3 percent. Industry reporting cited by Defiance indicates a single AI server built on Nvidia's GB300 platform can require roughly 30,000 multilayer ceramic capacitors, and Murata expects MLCC shipments into AI servers to grow about 30 percent annually through 2030. Defiance CIO Sylvia Jablonski said the market has spent three years pricing the chips, while CAPA focuses on what powers them, as rack power architectures move from 12 volts to 48 and even 800 volts.

On the afternoon of August 21, the MLCC concept rebounded in volatile trading, with Sinocera Materials rising more than 10%, and Sidike, Torch Electron, Boqian New Materials, Three-Circle Group, Fenghua Advanced Technology and other stocks among the top gainers. Behind the market action is the sustained price increase in the MLCC spot market that began in June 2026. As of August 2026, spot prices for ordinary standard products have risen more than 20%, while high-capacitance products such as 10 microfarad and 20 microfarad types used in AI servers have seen average increases of 60% to 80%, and some special models have doubled in price. Overseas leaders' earnings further confirm incremental AI computing demand. Murata's revenue in the second quarter of 2026 was 502.3 billion yen, up 20.7% year on year, and operating profit was 98.85 billion yen, up 59.8% year on year, with both revenue and profit setting record highs for a second quarter. Its MLCC business revenue was 282.508 billion yen, up 30% year on year, with orders in hand up 49.4% quarter on quarter and new orders up 85.5% year on year. Murata raised its full-year revenue guidance for fiscal 2026 to 2.11 trillion yen, an upward revision of 7.7% from its previous forecast, and added 80 billion yen specifically for expanding server MLCC production capacity. Samsung Electro-Mechanics reported second-quarter revenue of about 3.46 trillion won, up 24.2% year on year and a record quarterly high, with operating profit of 440.4 billion won, up 106.7% year on year. Institutions broadly expect this cycle to persist. Sealand Securities believes the shortage is spreading to consumer products, and the supply-demand gap for high-capacitance MLCCs may widen further in 2027. GF Securities notes that the current MLCC industry cycle is still in the early stage of an upcycle, and there may still be considerable room for price and profit elasticity to play out.

The A-share MLCC concept sector remained active in the afternoon of August 4, closing with an overall gain of 4.9%, as Bojay Electronics and Dongcai Technology hit their daily limit. In terms of news, leading Japanese and Korean manufacturers such as Murata, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, and Taiyo Yuden have successively raised prices for high-end, high-capacitance MLCCs used in AI servers and automotive-grade applications, with increases ranging from 15% to 30%. Several companies have acknowledged that delivery lead times for high-end products continue to lengthen, and production capacity can no longer fully meet customers' incremental demand. Samsung Electro-Mechanics will raise the shipment prices of all its MLCC categories by 30% starting August 1, 2026. Taiyo Yuden will adjust prices for some products from September 1. Murata Manufacturing took the lead as early as the end of March, raising prices for AI server and high-end automotive-grade MLCCs by 15% to 35%. The latest financial reports from leading manufacturers confirm this upcycle. Murata Manufacturing's revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2026 reached 502.3 billion yen, up 20.7% year-on-year, with operating profit of 98.5 billion yen, up 59.8% year-on-year, and its capacitor segment revenue of 282.5 billion yen, up 30% year-on-year. Samsung Electro-Mechanics' sales revenue for the second quarter of 2026 was 3.4572 trillion won, up 24% year-on-year, and operating profit was 440.4 billion won, up 107% year-on-year. Multiple brokerages believe that the explosive growth in AI computing demand is the core driver. A Goldman Sachs research report shows that the AI server MLCC market is expanding rapidly at a compound annual growth rate of around 80%, with high-end MLCC supply and demand remaining tight, and the industry has entered a new cycle of rising prosperity.

Tinavi plans to acquire a 62% stake in Shanghai Orthopaedics through a share issuance and raise matching funds, which is expected to constitute a major asset restructuring. The company's shares will resume trading on July 30. Moonshot AI's Kimi has completed its Series F funding round, raising over $3.5 billion, with a post-money valuation of $35 billion. The round closed early after being oversubscribed by more than three times the target amount. The Series G round, originally scheduled to start in August, has already been launched ahead of schedule, with a pre-money valuation rising to $50 billion. The Shanghai Stock Exchange has terminated its review of Taosheng Technology's IPO on the STAR Market. Samsung Electro-Mechanics will raise MLCC product shipment prices by 30% starting August 1, while Taiyo Yuden will increase MLCC prices from September 1. Quanta Computer plans to raise up to $2.19 billion through a global depositary share offering. A magnitude 7.1 earthquake in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, has halted production at several semiconductor plants, including those of Sony Semiconductor, Renesas Electronics, and Tokyo Electron. Shenzhen has issued a plan to strengthen the research, development, and application of general and vertical models, on-device models, physical AI models, and high-performance intelligent agents.

On July 29, the humanoid robot concept strengthened, with Mingxin Xuteng hitting three consecutive daily upper limits, Yuhuan CNC surging by the daily limit, and Estun and Guangyang Shares following higher. On the news front, Zhiyuan Innovation has officially launched its Hong Kong listing process, marking another major capital move in the humanoid robot sector. Research reports from institutions point out that in 2025, the humanoid robot industry is moving from the zero-to-one stage toward the one-to-ten stage, with technology convergence at its core; in 2026, it must break through the critical inflection point from one to ten and advance toward mass production at the ten-to-one-hundred scale, with the core shifting to volume manufacturing and commercialization. In addition, the MLCC concept fluctuated higher, with Fenghua Advanced Technology hitting upper limits twice in three days. Samsung Electro-Mechanics recently announced it has signed a supply contract for AI server MLCCs with a major global enterprise, with the contract size equivalent to approximately 295.12 billion Korean won, or 204 million US dollars, and the supply period fully covering the entire year of 2027.

The world's two leading MLCC makers are kicking off a new round of price increases simultaneously. Samsung Electro-Mechanics has notified partners that MLCC shipment prices will be raised by 30 percent starting August 1. Japan's Taiyo Yuden also announced it will raise prices on MLCCs shipped from September 1. MLCCs are transforming from consumer electronics cyclical components into core devices for AI computing and automotive electronics. The MLCC count in an AI server is roughly eight to ten times that of a traditional server, making it the third-largest item in the bill of materials cost. Goldman Sachs estimates the AI server MLCC market will grow at a compound annual rate of about 80 percent, and domestic Chinese companies are expected to accelerate their capture of high-end global market share.

MLCC concept stocks saw a collective spike during the trading session on July 27, with Fenghua Advanced Technology hitting its daily limit up. On the news front, Samsung Electro-Mechanics recently announced it has signed a contract to supply MLCCs for AI servers with a major global company. The contract is valued at approximately 295.12 billion Korean won, or 204 million US dollars, with the supply period covering the full year of 2027. This marks the second consecutive month that Samsung Electro-Mechanics has secured such a large order. Previously, on June 30, it disclosed an AI server MLCC supply contract worth about 450 billion Korean won. The two orders total roughly 750 billion Korean won, or about 510 million US dollars. Industry insiders say such a dense cluster of large-scale, long-term MLCC supply contracts is relatively rare in the industry, reflecting tight supply and demand for high-end passive components used in AI servers. From an industry fundamentals perspective, MLCCs are in an upward price cycle, with high-capacitance products particularly in short supply. Prices have risen three to five times, and delivery lead times have lengthened. Murata Manufacturing plans to invest a total of 250 billion Japanese yen to expand production capacity for products seeing growing demand, such as those for servers. Samsung Electro-Mechanics also plans to build a new factory in the Philippines to expand its server-grade MLCC capacity. A report from the China Electronic Components Association shows that the global MLCC market is expected to reach approximately 134.1 billion yuan in 2026, a year-on-year increase of about 16.5 percent, with mainland Chinese MLCC manufacturers holding roughly 10.2 percent of the global share.

AI 서버 플랫폼 업그레이드와 클라우드 서비스 제공업체들의 맞춤형 ASIC 생산 확대로 고사양 MLCC 수요가 급증하면서, 2026년 6월 말 기준 무라타, 삼성전기, 태양유덴의 BB비율이 각각 1.30, 1.31, 1.25를 기록해 코로나19 팬데믹 이후 최고치를 나타냈다. 무라타의 2026년 1분기 수주 잔고 비율은 1.27로 2018년 공급난 당시 최고치인 1.25를 넘어섰으며, MLCC 업계 전체 BB비율도 1.04까지 상승했다. AI용 고사양 MLCC 생산 집중으로 공급 쏠림이 자동차와 소비자용 시장으로 확산되면서 애플 공급망은 재고 확보를 예년보다 1~2개월 앞당겼고, 중국 유통업체들은 6월부터 소비자용 X5R 등급 MLCC 가격을 평균 15~25% 인상했다. TrendForce는 올해 하반기 엔비디아, 구글, AMD의 신규 AI 플랫폼 양산으로 고사양 MLCC 공급 부족이 심화될 것으로 전망하며, 4분기가 본격적인 공급난 진입 여부를 가늠할 분기점이 될 것이라고 분석했다.

Samsung Group detailed plans to invest 140 trillion won, equivalent to 90 billion dollars, in South Korea's central Chungcheong province for production of display panels, batteries, chips, and chip materials. Samsung Display will spend 67 trillion won in Asan and Cheonan, while Samsung Electronics will invest 56 trillion won to build packaging facilities for high-bandwidth memory chips in Onyang and Cheonan. Samsung SDI will spend 9 trillion won by 2040 in Cheonan for next-generation battery production and research and development. Samsung Electro-Mechanics will invest 8 trillion won by 2040 in Sejong to produce advanced chip packaging materials for AI servers and nurture domestic talent. The plan fits into bigger investment plans the group rolled out on Monday, with details provided by Samsung Display CEO Yi Chung at an event hosted by President Lee Jae Myung.