[Edaily Reporter SOYEON KIM ] SamsungElectroMechanics has signed a supply contract worth 879.3 billion won for multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) with a major global corporation. The cumulative value of long-term supply contracts announced this year has exceeded 5 trillion won. Driven by expanding global investment in artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, demand for high-value-added electronic components has surged, leading to a series of major supply contracts. With supply contracts expanding to include not only MLCCs but also silicon capacitors and semiconductor package substrates, the company is seen as strengthening its position in the market for core AI components.

On the 30th, SamsungElectroMechanics announced that it had signed an MLCC supply contract worth 879.2854 billion won with a major global corporation. This amount represents 7.8% of the company’s consolidated revenue from last year. The contract term is one year, running from December 21 of this year to December 21 of next year. The identity of the contracting party was not disclosed for reasons of business confidentiality.

This contract is the second-largest long-term MLCC supply contract SamsungElectroMechanics has announced this year. Previously, in August, the company signed an MLCC supply contract worth 1.0722 trillion won with a major global corporation.

MLCCs, often referred to as the “rice of the electronics industry,” are components that act as “dams,” storing electricity and releasing it in measured amounts. They help semiconductors operate smoothly by stably supplying the necessary power to application processors (APs), graphics processing units (GPUs), and central processing units (CPUs).

With this, the total number of long-term supply contracts announced by SamsungElectroMechanics this year has risen to eight. Since last May, the company has successively signed supply contracts for key components—including silicon capacitors, MLCCs for AI servers, inductors, and flip-chip ball grid arrays (FC-BGA)—bringing the cumulative contract value to approximately 5.18 trillion won (based on disclosures).

To date, SamsungElectroMechanics has signed or is in the process of signing long-term supply contracts with over 50 customers. As a result, the company expects that more than half of its total MLCC revenue next year will come from long-term supply contracts. The strategy is to establish a stable supply system based on customers’ mid- to long-term demand while simultaneously shifting its business structure toward high-value-added products.

The rapid growth of the MLCC market for AI servers is driving the company’s string of supply agreements. This is because power consumption is increasing as the performance of GPUs and application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) installed in AI servers continues to advance. In particular, as the number of semiconductor dies in GPUs and ASICs increases, the MLCC capacity required to ensure a stable power supply is projected to roughly double every year.

MLCCs for AI servers require higher technical expertise than those for general-purpose servers. The barriers to entry are high, as these components must not only offer high capacity and ultra-compact designs but also operate reliably in high-temperature and high-voltage environments. Consequently, supply in the global market is concentrated among a select few manufacturers. SamsungElectroMechanics maintains its position as a global leader, securing a market share of over 40% in the AI server MLCC market.

The market growth outlook is also bright. According to Goldman Sachs, the global MLCC market for AI servers is expected to grow at an average annual rate of approximately 34%, rising from $1.4 billion last year to $5.8 billion by 2030. A SamsungElectroMechanics official stated, “Demand for high-performance, high-reliability MLCCs is expanding in line with the growth of the AI industry,” adding, “We will continue to strengthen our competitiveness in the MLCC market for AI servers based on our differentiated technological capabilities and stable supply capacity.”