Dan’s Biz Bookshelf ‘House of Huawei'
Happy’s Tech Talk #41: Sustainability and Circularity for Electronics Manufacturing
Facing the Future: Challenges and Opportunities in Reshoring PCB Manufacturing
AI Infrastructure to Dominate MLCC Demand in 2025 amid Persistent Oversupply Challenges
January 16, 2025 | TrendForceEstimated reading time: 1 minute
TrendForce’s latest investigations have revealed the U.S. economy outperformed market expectations in December 2024, with non-farm payrolls and the Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) delivering strong results. Consequently, the Federal Reserve may significantly scale back the frequency of rate cuts in 2025, prolonging a high-interest-rate environment. This scenario could dampen consumer spending and undermine corporate confidence in investment and expansion. TrendForce estimates that MLCC shipments will reach 1,146.7 billion units in 1Q25, marking a 3% QoQ decline.
Anticipation of Trump’s tax policies, growing GB200 orders, and Lunar New Year stockpiling fuel early-year inventory surge
TrendForce reports that major laptop brands such as Dell and HP have accelerated orders for educational laptop contracts awarded in the second half of 2024 to mitigate potential tariffs anticipated under President Trump’s administration starting January 2025. ODMs like Compal, Quanta, and Inventec have been asked to deliver shipments before January 20, boosting MLCC supplier demand early in the year.
Additionally, growing GB200 orders managed by Foxconn, Quanta, and Wistron, coupled with stockpiling ahead of the Lunar New Year in late January, have further driven a surge in early 2025 MLCC shipments.
Despite this initial momentum, MLCC suppliers remain cautious. The expedited North American shipments may weaken Q2 demand for educational laptops, while potential trade restrictions and tariffs under the new administration could disrupt OEM and ODM production and shipping plans. These factors might also raise upstream supply chain costs and introduce uncertainty around production base relocations.
Slowing growth in consumer electronics: Demand for AI infrastructure stands out
Looking ahead to 2025, AI infrastructure—including servers, accelerators, and power management systems—will remain the primary driver of MLCC demand. Growth across other ICT industries, such as smartphones and notebooks, is expected to remain tepid, with average growth rates projected at under 10%.
TrendForce notes that MLCC suppliers are unlikely to achieve full capacity utilization this year due to persistent oversupply in the market. The ongoing challenge for the industry will be balancing pricing and order volumes—a critical test for navigating 2025.
Share on:
Testimonial
"In a year when every marketing dollar mattered, I chose to keep I-Connect007 in our 2025 plan. Their commitment to high-quality, insightful content aligns with Koh Young’s values and helps readers navigate a changing industry. "
Brent Fischthal - Koh YoungSuggested Items
Eltek Ltd. Reports Strong Second-Quarter 2025 Results
08/14/2025 | PR NewswireEltek Ltd., a global manufacturer and supplier of technologically advanced solutions in the field of printed circuit boards (PCBs), today announced its financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2025.
20 Years of Center Nanoelectronic Technologies (CNT) – Backbone of German Semiconductor Research Celebrates Anniversary
08/14/2025 | Fraunhofer IPMSThe Center Nanoelectronic Technologies (CNT) of the Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems (IPMS) is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. Since its founding in 2005, it has developed into a pillar of applied semiconductor research in Germany and Europe. With its unique research cleanroom and equipment adhering to the 300-mm wafer industry standard, CNT is unparalleled in Germany and serves as a central innovation driver for the microelectronics industry.
Federal Electronics Elevates Hermosillo Facility with Advanced Mycronic 3D AOI System
08/12/2025 | Federal ElectronicsFederal Electronics, a leader in providing advanced electronic manufacturing services, has enhanced its new production line at its Hermosillo, Mexico facility with the addition of the Mycronic MYPro i50 Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) system.
Flex Delivers Advanced Power Management for Next-Generation NVIDIA AI Infrastructure
08/07/2025 | FlexFlex announced a new power shelf system to fast-track 800 VDC power architectures and support the growing demands of AI infrastructure and AI factories.
Inside the AI Hardware Boom: Servers, Substrates and Advanced Packaging
08/07/2025 | Edy Yu, Printed Circuit Information, China, and Marcy LaRont, I-Connect007AI is rewriting the hardware playbook, marrying complex software and algorithms to run and improve machine and equipment operations. Sorting through, managing, and utilizing massive amounts of data takes tremendous data storage and processing power. Enter the new generation of supercomputers and data servers. The data servers being built today are not your momma’s server, as they say.