Multiple Passive Component Stocks Hit Limit Up on Strong AI Demand, Tight Supply, and Price Hike Expectations
On May 20, passive component stocks became a key pillar supporting the Taiwanese stock market, with multiple firms like Yageo, Walsin Technology, and Holy Stone hitting their daily trading limits. Analysts attribute the surge to soaring AI demand, which is causing supply shortages and expectations of price increases. Global manufacturers are prioritizing high-end MLCCs and tantalum capacitors for AI, leading to a supply crunch even for standard MLCCs, with lead times extending to 12-16 weeks. Taiwanese firms are benefiting from order shifts and are ramping up production to meet strong demand expected in the second half of the year.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: May 20, 2026 at 11:36
- 🔍 Collected: May 20, 2026 at 12:02 (25 min after Published)
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: May 20, 2026 at 12:12 (10 min after Collected)
(CNA, Taipei, May 20, by reporter Chung Jung-feng) As the Taiwanese stock market fluctuated to defend the 40,000-point mark in today's trading session, passive components emerged as a key supporting sector. Yageo soared over 9% to near its limit-up price of NT$546, Walsin Technology surged over 9%, and a number of other stocks including Holy Stone, Lelon Electronics, Kaimei, Ta-I, Nitsuko, Tai-tech, and Kingstate all hit their daily trading limit.
Institutional investors point out that global passive component giants are prioritizing production capacity for high-end Multilayer Ceramic Capacitors (MLCCs) and tantalum capacitors required for artificial intelligence (AI) applications. This has not only tightened the supply of high-end MLCCs but also caused a shortage of standard-type MLCCs, extending lead times to 12 to 16 weeks. Another wave of price hikes for related passive components is anticipated, with Yageo poised to benefit from capacity and order shifts from Japanese and Korean competitors.
Yageo previously indicated that the book-to-bill (B/B) ratio for all its product lines is greater than 1, with the ratio for AI application products surpassing the average. The company is actively increasing its capacity utilization rates to meet sustained strong demand in the second half of the year.
Yageo stated that its AI-related revenue share, which was about 12-13% in Q4 2025 (as per original text, likely a typo for 2023 or future projection), has already increased to 13-14% in the first quarter of this year, and is expected to rise to 15% by the end of the year.
Holy Stone previously announced that it has entered the high-end AI server power supply chain and expects performance growth this year. The share of its AI applications has the potential to double, and it is actively expanding its MLCC production capacity.
Industry insiders analyze that passive component manufacturers are actively upgrading from component suppliers to the module level, enhancing product value-added and unit prices. AI servers and data centers have led to a doubling of demand for passive components. Taking an AI server as an example, its power consumption per unit exceeds 3000 watts, and the usage of inductors is nearly double that of a general server. The related TLVR (Trans-inductor Voltage Regulator) architecture has become the mainstream solution for new-generation server power supply designs, boosting demand for inductor products. (Editor: Yang Kai-hsiang) 1150520
Institutional investors point out that global passive component giants are prioritizing production capacity for high-end Multilayer Ceramic Capacitors (MLCCs) and tantalum capacitors required for artificial intelligence (AI) applications. This has not only tightened the supply of high-end MLCCs but also caused a shortage of standard-type MLCCs, extending lead times to 12 to 16 weeks. Another wave of price hikes for related passive components is anticipated, with Yageo poised to benefit from capacity and order shifts from Japanese and Korean competitors.
Yageo previously indicated that the book-to-bill (B/B) ratio for all its product lines is greater than 1, with the ratio for AI application products surpassing the average. The company is actively increasing its capacity utilization rates to meet sustained strong demand in the second half of the year.
Yageo stated that its AI-related revenue share, which was about 12-13% in Q4 2025 (as per original text, likely a typo for 2023 or future projection), has already increased to 13-14% in the first quarter of this year, and is expected to rise to 15% by the end of the year.
Holy Stone previously announced that it has entered the high-end AI server power supply chain and expects performance growth this year. The share of its AI applications has the potential to double, and it is actively expanding its MLCC production capacity.
Industry insiders analyze that passive component manufacturers are actively upgrading from component suppliers to the module level, enhancing product value-added and unit prices. AI servers and data centers have led to a doubling of demand for passive components. Taking an AI server as an example, its power consumption per unit exceeds 3000 watts, and the usage of inductors is nearly double that of a general server. The related TLVR (Trans-inductor Voltage Regulator) architecture has become the mainstream solution for new-generation server power supply designs, boosting demand for inductor products. (Editor: Yang Kai-hsiang) 1150520