The next thing to skyrocket in price in the age of AI.

MLCCs act as energy "storage" and noise filters in electronic circuit boards, helping to ensure stable current flow and protect components. Photo: SCMP .

The AI craze is not only enriching chip manufacturers like Nvidia but is also strongly impacting basic supporting component industries. Among them, multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) – tiny components that act as voltage buffers on circuit boards – are becoming a new target for investment.

The root cause stems from the enormous energy consumption of AI hardware systems. Next-generation AI servers are packed with high-performance graphics chips (GPUs), consuming 10 times more power than traditional servers. This requires a much larger number of capacitors to manage, filter noise, and stabilize the current, preventing overload issues.

According to research from TrendForce , a standard AI server requires approximately 28,000 MLCC capacitors, 13 times more than a typical server configuration. On individual boards, Nvidia's next-generation architecture is expected to require up to 12,000 MLCC units, nearly double the 6,500 of the currently available platform. This design upgrade forces system manufacturers to procure components in unprecedented quantities.

Analysts predict that global MLCC prices will officially reverse and start rising again in the near future, ending a continuous three-year decline caused by the economic recession.

Each standard AI server requires 28,000 of these capacitors. Photo: SCMP.

The stock market reacted quickly and positively to this technological shift. Shares of leading corporations in Japan and South Korea recorded exceptional growth.

Murata Manufacturing, the market leader, expects sales of server-related capacitors to increase by 90% this year. The company's stock price has risen nearly 90% since the beginning of the year. Meanwhile, Samsung Electro-Mechanics has seen its stock surge by a spectacular 265% and is in negotiations to increase prices with major customers.

In the Chinese market, the wave of investment in this supply chain is also booming. Shares of Guangdong Fenghua Advanced Technology continuously hit the ceiling price for several consecutive sessions, with increases of 10%, 9%, and 5% respectively on May 18-19-20.

Similarly, Chaozhou Three-Circle also recorded a 10% surge on May 19th. The share prices of both domestic companies have more than doubled over the past year thanks to their strategy of aggressively shifting towards the high-end capacitor segment for electric vehicles and data centers.

Analysts in China believe that the MLCC sector has the potential to repeat the phenomenal growth achieved by the optical module industry in the past.

"This trend reflects a major shift in the supply chain, where passive components are becoming key factors determining the performance of entire AI systems," commented an analyst at China Securities .

Source: https://znews.vn/con-ga-de-trung-vang-moi-trong-thoi-ai-post1652948.html