MLCC market to recover thanks to IT demand
Sales from automobile will decrease, however
Demand for multi layer ceramic capacitors (MLCC) is expected to recover in the second half of 2020 thanks to demand from IT applications. However, recovery for MLCC for auto-component application seems unlikely.
Taiwanese component maker Yageo, which relies on MLCC, saw sales of US$449.57 million in the second quarter, a rise of 40.6% from a year prior.
Its monthly sales has increased from March to June. Its June sales stood at US$152.59 million, its highest in seventeen months. Its first half sales of 2020 increased by 12% from the same time period in 2019.
Yageo credited the sales in June to operation rate of its factory in China increasing and steady demand from customers. Its third quarter orders and shipment will remain strong as its factory operation rate continues to recover and it solves its minor stock problem.
Murata Manufacturing, which relies on MLCC for auto-components, saw sales slightly decline. Sales of its capacitor business from the April-June time period stood at 134.4 billion yen, a decline of 2.4% from a year prior. The Japanese firm said it saw demand rise from IT products but those for smartphones and auto-components fell.
Murata won 117.5 billion yen of new orders in the April-June time period, a rise of 6.5% from a year prior but a drop of 23.9% from the previous quarter. Its MLCC factory in the Philippines was halted from March 17 to May 17 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The factory has since resumed operations, Murata said.
Remaining orders for the April-June period was 92.3 billion yen, a drop of 10.2% from a year prior and a drop of 15.5% from the previous quarter. It is half of the 189 billion yen it had in the same time period two years ago. Demand will likely not recover significantly in the third quarter.
Samsung Electro-Mechanics, in its conference call for the second quarter, also said it expected MLCC for IT products and smartphones to recover while it will be slower for auto-components. It said MLCC demand hit bottom in the second quarter and will recover slightly in the third quarter. But a complete normalization is expected to be slow due to the US-China trade war and COVID-19 pandemic, the company said.
Samwha Capacitor also saw its sales hit bottom from April to May which recovered in June. Amotech is also expecting sales from its MLCC business in the second half of 2020.