In China’s hardware hub in Shenzhen, the speculative frenzy around consumer multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) has cooled into a sharp price correction, but prices for artificial intelligence server components remain elevated.
Spot prices for consumer-grade MLCCs, often dubbed the “the rice of the electronics industry”, have fallen by two-thirds from their peak two months ago, according to Wang Jun, an MLCC distributor in Huaqiangbei, a commercial zone in the city known for electronic parts.
However, prices remained higher than before the rally, which was “more speculative rather than driven by downstream demand”, said Wang, manager at Tongxin Chuanghui Technology, which trades imported MLCCs from global leaders including Murata Manufacturing and Samsung Electro-Mechanics (Semco).