三星电机电话会上调AI服务器MLCC展望：明年需求约今年8倍、LTA客户增至约50家、Q3 ASP环比涨超10%

Samsung Electro-Mechanics (009150) expects demand for multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) used in artificial intelligence servers to reach about eight times this year's level next year. As customers scramble to secure volumes, the number of clients that have signed or are negotiating long-term agreements (LTAs) has grown to around 50. The company expects more than half of its MLCC revenue next year to come from such agreements.
Samsung Electro-Mechanics outlined the business update during a conference call on the 28th to announce third-quarter earnings.
Customers are racing to sign long-term contracts because the capacitance required for AI servers is doubling every year. MLCCs act like a dam, briefly storing electricity and releasing it steadily to semiconductors, making them an essential component in AI servers packed with high-performance chips. With Big Tech firms preparing to launch next-generation AI servers next year, Samsung Electro-Mechanics projects demand for AI MLCCs will reach roughly eight times this year's level. That is an upgrade from the forecast of more than sevenfold presented a quarter earlier.
The company said the number of customers that have signed or are negotiating long-term MLCC contracts stands at around 50. In the second quarter, only about 10 customers had completed contracts. If all deals under negotiation are concluded, the number of long-term contract customers will increase fivefold.
With MLCC demand growing faster than supply, price gains are also widening. Samsung Electro-Mechanics said the average selling price of its MLCCs rose in the low double digits, by more than 10%, in the third quarter from the previous quarter. In the second quarter, the increase had remained in the high single digits, but it moved into double digits in a single quarter. The company attributed the shift to a deepening supply-demand imbalance and a larger share of high-value products in its sales mix. Samsung Electro-Mechanics also plans to ramp up mass production at its new plant in the Philippines to cope with tight supply.
"We are preemptively expanding capacity, centered on MLCCs for AI data centers, and are increasing this year's supply capability from last year," management said. "The new plant in the Philippines will also begin mass-producing advanced, high-value MLCCs from next year, but customer demand is growing faster than expected and capacity expansion takes time, so tight supply conditions will continue."
The company is also expanding capacity in its semiconductor package substrate business. On the conference call, Samsung Electro-Mechanics said it is adding production lines for flip-chip ball grid array (FC-BGA) substrates, a high-value product, in Sejong, Busan and Thai Nguyen, Vietnam, and is receiving investment support from customers in the process. The new lines will enter mass production in stages from next year and are expected to contribute meaningfully to revenue from the following year. The company said the planned expansion alone will not be enough to meet all customer demand and that it is receiving additional supply requests, adding that it is reviewing the timing and scale of further investment.
While preparing the new production lines, the company is also expanding existing supply. Samsung Electro-Mechanics plans to double shipments of FC-BGA substrates for server central processing units (CPUs) in the fourth quarter. The product incorporates the company's advanced technologies, including "multicore" structures that reduce substrate warping and "component embedding," which buries electronic parts such as capacitors inside the substrate.
In the camera module business, meanwhile, products for humanoid robots have entered the mass production and supply stage. Samsung Electro-Mechanics said it began supplying high-pixel camera modules to a North American customer from the third quarter, after saying in the second quarter that it was preparing initial mass production, and that it is also building up supply capacity at its North American base in anticipation of growing demand.