三星电机据传洽谈约3.2亿美元AI服务器MLCC供货合同(交易对手或为Google/AWS/Meta之一,未证实)

Samsung Electro Mechanics Sees Its Value Rise as It Pursues 320 Million Dollar AI MLCC Supply Deal With Big Tech

Samsung Electro Mechanics is moving to supply global big tech with several hundred billion won worth of multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCC) for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. As the AI supercycle (a period of exceptional boom) spreads beyond semiconductors into electronic components, Samsung Electro Mechanics is expected to gain momentum in its earnings recovery as well.

According to industry sources on the 28th, Samsung Electro Mechanics is reportedly in final stage discussions ahead of an AI server MLCC supply contract with a US cloud service provider (CSP). The contract is estimated to be worth around 500 billion won (320 million dollars). Major CSPs such as Google, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Meta have recently been competing to build out AI data centers, and the industry believes the counterparty is most likely one of these companies.

MLCC is a core component that stably supplies and controls electric current within the circuits of electronic products. Its range of application is widening beyond information technology (IT) devices such as smartphones and PCs to AI servers and automotive electrical and electronic equipment. In particular, because AI servers carry large numbers of high performance semiconductors such as graphics processing units (GPU), high bandwidth memory (HBM), and central processing units (CPU), power density has risen sharply, driving a surge in demand for high capacity, high reliability MLCC.

Once supply ramps up in earnest under this contract, the pace of Samsung Electro Mechanics' earnings improvement is expected to accelerate further. AI server MLCC is technically more difficult than the mobile variety, but it sells for at least three times more and is used in far greater volumes. A smartphone typically carries 1,000 to 1,300 MLCCs, whereas an AI server computing board uses 15,000 to 25,000 per board. The latest AI servers are equipped with around 20 computing boards, so a single server is said to require hundreds of thousands of MLCCs.

Market growth is also steep. According to market research firm MarketsandMarkets, the global AI server market is projected to grow to 837.8 billion dollars (about 1,150 trillion won) by 2030. Meanwhile, much like memory chips such as DRAM, MLCC supply is failing to keep pace with demand. Jang Duk hyun, president of Samsung Electro Mechanics, said at the regular shareholders meeting this past March that "with rising data center investment, the supply and demand for high capacity, high reliability MLCC is tightening," adding that "we are in discussions with customers to expand supply in line with market conditions."

As a seller's market takes shape, the pricing power of major players including Samsung Electro Mechanics and Japan's Murata, TDK, and Taiyo Yuden has also strengthened. Prices for some MLCC products have already been raised, and long term supply agreements (LTA) are reportedly being signed one after another. In its MLCC business, which accounts for more than 45 percent of total revenue, Samsung Electro Mechanics is focusing on improving profitability by expanding the share of high capacity, high performance products. It is regarded as having secured top tier global competitiveness in AI server MLCC.

Against this market backdrop, analysts forecast that the operating profit of the Component Solutions division, which oversees Samsung Electro Mechanics' MLCC business, will surpass 1 trillion won this year, up more than 70 percent from last year (about 600 billion won). There is also talk of the possibility of reaching operating profit in the low to mid 2 trillion won range next year, roughly double that level. Samsung Electro Mechanics currently conducts MLCC research and development and raw material production at its Suwon and Busan sites, and operates production subsidiaries in Tianjin, China, and the Philippines as mass production bases. A plant expansion is also underway in the Philippines to increase MLCC capacity.