TAIWAN: MLCC demand boosts capacitor sales

The global capacitor industry is showing stable growth. In 2006, capacitor shipment reached 955 million -- a 12 percent increase from 2005. Manufacturers raked in $6.064 billion in revenue in 2006. This year, capacitor shipment is forecasted at 1.066 trillion units -- a 12 percent increase over 2006, according to a report by Paumanok. Total shipment value is expected to reach $6.549 billion in 2007 – an 8 percent increase over last year. On the other hand, price reduction continues. The average selling price per unit will decrease by 5 percent from $.0064 in 2006 to $.0061 this year.



The top ceramic capacitor vendors ─ Murata Manufacturing Co. Ltd, TDK, Yageo Corp., Walsin Technology Corp., SEMCO Inc., AVX Corp., Taiyo Yuden, Panasonic and Kemet Corp. ─ will see 10 percent to 30 percent growth in 2007. Among these top players, Yageo and Walsin are Taiwan manufacturers.

NO SLOWDOWN

Capacitor production makes up 60 percent of Taiwan’s passive components market. Because of the many thriving markets in the region, like mobile phones, consumer electronics and notebook computers, the local capacitor industry is optimistic in getting even higher revenues this year.



Some of the manufacturers are also increasing production to meet the market demands. For instance, SEMCO and Yageo have already increased yields for high-capacitance MLCCs. These expansions are mainly brought about by the demand from the wireless, flat-panel display and automotive electronics segments, which are requiring more MLCCs per box. In the handset market, for example, the volume of phones containing 400 MLCCs will increase at a greater rate than phones containing 275 MLCCs. There is also a steady growth in the demand for high-voltage MLCCs, which is primarily boosted by the increasing demand for LCD and related applications.



“The production of high-capacitance MLCCs will be amplified more than ever. From 3.3 billion units in 2006, it will increase by 276 percent to over 12 billion units by the end of 2007,” said Vincent Hu, MLCC business unit head at Yageo. The company’s goal is to increase its 0402 MLCC shipments and to augment fab production capacity to at least 100 percent. Yageo’s MLCCs are produced in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and Suzhou and Dongguan in China.



SMALLER CASE SIZE

Another trend being seen is the continuous movement from large to small case sizes. Hu said that the 0402 capacitor has 45 percent of the global market share; while 0603 has around 30 percent; and 0201 has less than 10 percent. “Within the next five years, the mainstream case size will be 01005,” he added.