According to reports, Kyocera issued a notice of suspension of production on February 1st. It says that the specifications for 0402 and 0603 sizes of 104 and 105 will be discontinued at the end of February. This specification is widely used and is considered to be the most demanding specification in the market. Kyocera’s action will definitely make the MLCC shortage worse.
The supply chain stated that Kyocera and Murata, Taiyo Yuden, and SEMCO are all iPhone’s supplier. Although the market share is not high, but the specifications which Kyocera stated to quit are the most common and have largest demand, almost all the electronic device needs it. Kyocera's production stop action will affect the market just like what TDK done before.
In 2016, TDK notified customers that they would fade out of the general MLCC. Their market share reached 7%, and the capacity conversion action led to an increase in the 2017 MLCC shortage.
At present, MLCC's major global suppliers include Murata, TDK, Taiyo Electric, Kyocera, Panasonic, Yageo, Walsin and FH…etc. Due to the demands of Automotive, industrial and iPhone, Starting from the second half of 2016, major manufacturers such as Murata, Taiyo Yuden and TDK, etc., plan to phase out production of the medium-to high capacitance MLCC for medium level application and to release 20% production capability for standard MLCC, which also means that Japanese companies gradually withdraw from the market demand for the most extensive and large general standard MLCC market, Kyocera’s announcement has further proves this phenomenon.
