Murata Manufacturing to invest 1 trillion yen over five years to expand MLCC production, targeting AI servers and computing hardware
Murata Manufacturing announced that it will invest a total of approximately 1 trillion yen (equivalent to 42.2 billion RMB) from fiscal 2026 to fiscal 2030 to expand MLCC production, with the goal of doubling MLCC sales by fiscal 2030 compared with fiscal 2025. Of this, 350 billion yen will be used for plant infrastructure, and 650 billion yen for production line equipment and process upgrades. The Okayama base in Japan will receive 150 billion yen to build new production lines, which are expected to gradually begin production by the end of 2028. Prices from original manufacturers of high-capacity MLCCs used in AI servers have generally risen by 15%-35%, and Japanese and South Korean peers such as Samsung Electro-Mechanics and Kyocera are also following suit with high-end capacity expansion.
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Spending one trillion yen, Murata ramps up MLCC, targeting the AI server and computing hardware markets
STAR Market Daily, Editor: Xu Juncheng, 2026-10-31 19:35
① Target: double MLCC sales in fiscal 2030 compared with fiscal 2025; ② Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Kyocera and other Japanese and Korean peers are also following suit with high-end MLCC capacity expansion.
STAR Market Daily, October 31 — Global MLCC leader Japan's Murata Manufacturing recently officially announced a medium- to long-term capacity expansion plan, under which it will invest a total of approximately 1 trillion yen (equivalent to 42.2 billion RMB) over the five-year period from fiscal 2026 to fiscal 2030, focusing on building multilayer ceramic capacitor (MLCC) capacity to meet the surge in demand from AI servers and computing hardware for high-end passive components, with the goal of doubling MLCC sales in fiscal 2030 compared with fiscal 2025.
Of the trillion-yen investment, 350 billion yen will go to plant infrastructure, and the remaining 650 billion yen will be used to purchase production line equipment and upgrade processes, with the expansion layout covering existing bases in Japan, Southeast Asia and China. The Okayama base in Japan is the focus of this round, with plans to invest 150 billion yen to build new production lines, and the new plant is expected to gradually start production by the end of 2028; overseas factories such as those in Thailand will also add supporting production lines.
AI servers are reshaping the demand structure for MLCCs. Unlike the demand for general-purpose capacitors from consumer electronics such as mobile phones, AI computing motherboards and high-speed power supply links require high-end MLCCs with low equivalent series inductance and high stability; a single AI server carries far more capacitors than a traditional server, and imposes stringent standards on voltage withstand and temperature stability.
Murata President Norio Nakajima said at a briefing that data centers and optical communications infrastructure have entered a sustained expansion cycle, with demand rising faster than previously forecast, and that the original capacity plans can no longer keep up with the order pace of downstream cloud vendors and chipmakers.
It is worth noting that this is not Murata's first move to ramp up server components. Earlier this year, the company already added a special investment of 80 billion yen to expand server MLCC capacity. Murata's goal is not only to supply current AI servers, but also to reserve capacity space for edge AI devices, robots and automotive intelligent hardware, connecting the component supply chain from computing infrastructure to terminal intelligent hardware.
Looking at the industry, Japanese and Korean peers such as Samsung Electro-Mechanics and Kyocera are also following suit with high-end MLCC capacity expansion. However, high-end MLCCs are constrained by the supply of ceramic powder and tape casting equipment, and there is a time lag in the release of new capacity. Against this backdrop, price increases and capacity expansion have become the norm for global MLCC leaders. Murata, Taiyo Yuden and Samsung Electro-Mechanics have successively issued price increase letters, with original manufacturers' increases for high-capacity MLCCs used in AI servers generally at 15%-35%.
Shenzhen Securities believes that the industry is locking in long-term supply, ASP increases continue to be validated, and a trend of order shifting from consumer-grade products is emerging; it is bullish on the continuation of high-end price increases and continued tight supply and demand in consumer-grade products, and domestic manufacturers are expected to benefit from order spillover and domestic share substitution. It suggests paying attention to leading domestic MLCC makers and companies in upstream materials such as ceramic powder.
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Cailian Press statement: The content of this article is for reference only and does not constitute investment advice. Investors who act on it do so at their own risk.
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