Kyocera to Spend 100 Billion Yen Expanding AI Server MLCC Capacity as Demand Surges

Multilayer ceramic capacitors, or MLCCs, are essential passive components for power management and signal stability in servers and automobiles. Japanese manufacturer Taiyo Yuden has shifted resources toward automotive applications, information infrastructure and industrial equipment in recent years. As AI servers require more MLCCs with higher specifications, the company’s orders and capacity utilization have become key gauges of AI hardware investment.

Taiyo Yuden said on May 8 that revenue for April 2025 through March 2026 rose 4.1% from a year earlier to 355.341 billion yen. Operating profit climbed 91.2% to 19.996 billion yen, while net profit surged 535.9% to 14.806 billion yen. Orders reached 111.1 billion yen in January–March 2026, with a book-to-bill ratio of 1.25. However, its net profit forecast for the current fiscal year was 18 billion yen, below the market estimate of 24.3 billion yen, and the shares fell 4.05% in early trading on May 11.

Multilayer ceramic capacitors, or MLCCs, are essential components used to regulate electrical current in servers, vehicles and robots. Murata Manufacturing, the world’s leading MLCC supplier, expects investment in generative AI infrastructure and the emergence of “physical AI” applications to sustain demand for advanced capacitors. The outlook makes AI servers and robotics an increasingly important growth engine for the Japanese electronic-components industry.

Murata expects demand tied to AI servers and physical AI to keep expanding beyond 2028. The company plans to invest about 80 billion yen through fiscal 2027 to raise MLCC production capacity by more than 20%. It is also “boldly considering” larger new plants in Japan and overseas to address longer-term demand, while signaling that it does not intend to increase MLCC prices in the near term despite the strong market.