Yageo and UniOhm have joined the price hike wave for passive components – what’s the market situation?

01 Intensive Price Hikes by Taiwan-based Leading Resistor Manufacturers

Since November last year, passive component manufacturers have been rolling out price increase notices one after another. In December, multiple passive component makers even announced price adjustments in a concentrated wave, triggering market volatility. At that time, the price hikes were mainly concentrated in two categories: first, tantalum capacitors produced by major overseas and Taiwan-based manufacturers; second, resistors, inductors and other products of domestic brands represented by FengHua Hi-Tech.

Now, Taiwan, China-based resistor manufacturers have also jumped on the ongoing heated price hike wave for passive components.

Yageo: A price hike of approximately 15 to 20 percentAccording to Taiwan media reports, Yageo issued another price increase notice on January 16. The company stated that it has resolved to adjust prices for some resistor products starting from February 1 this year, with a price hike range of about 15 to 20 percent.

This price adjustment is driven by a significant surge in production costs for its chip product lines, particularly the soaring prices of precious metals such as silver, ruthenium and palladium. The affected products include resistor series such as RC0402, RC0603, RC0805 and RC1206, with the new prices taking effect on February 1 this year.

In addition, Taiwan media reported that major authorized distributors of passive components in mainland China have successively received price increase notices issued by KEMET, a subsidiary of Yageo. Prices for shipped products will be raised starting from January 26, with a 15 percent increase for 0402-1206 thick film resistors.

UniOhm: Price Hike for 0402-1206 Series ResistorsAccording to Taiwan media reports, on the same day Yageo issued its price increase notice, major resistor manufacturer UniOhm also sent a price hike notice to its authorized distributors. The company announced a planned price adjustment for 0402-1206 size resistors due to the overall surge in raw material prices, and stated that its monthly production capacity for resistor devices stands at approximately 60 billion pieces. Industry insiders noted that despite the flurry of price increase notices from mainland China-based resistor manufacturers, UniOhm had hesitated to adjust its prices. It was not until Yageo, the industry leader, green-lit the price adjustments for resistors that the overall momentum for price hikes in the sector took shape.

Walsin Technology: Price Hike for 0201-1206 Series ResistorsOn January 8, JoinYin, a subsidiary of the Walsin Technology Group, issued a price increase notice to its customers, announcing a 15%-20% price hike for thermistors and a 20%-25% increase for varistors. The new prices took effect on the shipping date of January 16. This move is regarded as Walsin Technology’s formal participation in this round of the passive components price hike wave.

On January 21, Walsin Technology officially issued a price increase notice. Starting from February 1 this year, the company will adjust prices for resistor products in sizes from 0201 to 1206 that cover the full resistance range. The specific adjustment range will be subject to separate detailed plans based on the specifications, models and categories of each product, which will be further explained to customers by the company’s sales team.

In addition, the price adjustments by Taiwan, China-based major resistor manufacturers have also spurred Taiwan-based small and medium-sized resistor makers to mull over following suit with price hikes. Tian Er Technology has seen its orders for thick film resistors surge by 20-30%, with its overall book-to-bill ratio (B/B) soaring to above 1.5. The company has raised the inventory levels of raw materials, finished products and semi-finished products to more than three months, gearing up in advance for this round of inventory restocking wave. Guangjie Electronics, a Taiwan-based invested enterprise of FengHua Hi-Tech, will increase prices for thin film inductors by 10-40% in the first quarter.

According to Taiwan media reports, passive components have not been in short supply in the past few years, resulting in low willingness among distributors to stock up and inventory levels dropping below the safety threshold. As the demand side ushers in a wave of AI infrastructure construction and product specification upgrades, which has offset the weakness in consumer electronics to a considerable extent, first, second and third-tier manufacturers have all joined the price hike spree. Distributors’ willingness to stock up has risen sharply, with January revenue expected to register robust growth. For product specifications that were already in tight supply and demand, distributors are unable to restock even if they intend to raise their inventory levels.

02 Market Reactions?

Ahead of New Year’s Day, passive component manufacturers rolled out price increase notices intensively, and the spot market saw suspensions of quotations and price hikes for passive components. After New Year’s Day, most distribution channels resumed normal quoting; however, in the first week or two just past, the supply of some models had not yet fully returned to normal.

In terms of pricing, most resistor products have seen price hikes since New Year’s Day, with the specific range varying on a case-by-case basis. The increases for different models stand at 10-odd percent, 30 percent, and even higher for a small number of niche or in-short-supply models, leading to somewhat volatile pricing. For capacitors, the price hikes for ordinary standard grades have not been as drastic, yet increases still apply, with noticeable rises for some scarce models. Some distributors noted that ferrite beads and inductors have also seen substantial, even more drastic price hikes.

The passive components market was generally buoyant in the first week or two right after New Year’s Day, but it has basically calmed down to date. Prices have entered a stage of sideways trading at a high level, with little movement in the near term.

Specifically, resistors remain the most buoyant category in the passive components market, with their overall prices having risen by approximately 10-20% compared with pre-New Year’s Day levels, and the price hikes being mainly concentrated in the 0201-1206 series. The upward price movement for resistors was centered in the week immediately after New Year’s Day; since then, price volatility has been steadily diminishing, with virtually no changes to prices at present.

Furthermore, the joint release of price increase notices by Taiwan, China-based major resistor manufacturers last week does not seem to have exerted a significant impact on the spot market.

Some distributors stated that customers began stockpiling goods as soon as this round of price hikes kicked off. As such, even with the recent successive release of price increase notices by Taiwan-based major manufacturers to join the hike wave, end customers have shown little urgency to scramble for additional stock. Meanwhile, prior to the issuance of official notices by Taiwan-based original manufacturers, the spot market had already implemented a general price adjustment for most resistor models under these brands, meaning their prices had already edged up ahead of the official announcements.

In addition, other distributors noted that resistor price hikes typically pass through to the end market, but resistors themselves are low-cost components, so their impact on the overall cost of finished products is limited. For this reason, some traders may even sell resistors at a loss when fulfilling component orders for end customers, which in turn has had a minimal impact on the broader market.

For capacitors, the overall price increase has been modest. That said, some distributors indicated that certain scarce models – such as polymer tantalum capacitors and high-capacitance, high-voltage ceramic capacitors – are still experiencing supply shortages.

Looking back at this round of the passive components price hike wave: In April last year, Panasonic and KEMET, a subsidiary of Yageo, issued price increase notices announcing hikes for tantalum capacitors, kicking off the wave of intensive price adjustments for this product category. This was followed by a price hike from Xinyun in May, Kyocera in June, a second price hike from Kyocera in September, and a second price adjustment from KEMET in October.

Starting from November, the price hikes began to spread to other categories including resistors, inductors and ferrite beads. Tai Ching Technology raised prices for ferrite beads and inductors due to the surge in silver prices. At the end of November, FengHua Hi-Tech announced price adjustments for products such as inductors, ferrite beads, varistors, ceramic capacitors and thick film circuits.

In December, multiple domestic passive component manufacturers rolled out price increase notices intensively – including Hekotai, Changlong Technology, Fujie Electronics and Dingsheng Microelectronics – with the hikes covering thick film resistors, SMD resistors and other products. At the end of December, FengHua Hi-Tech issued another price increase notice, mainly covering resistors, inductors and other product lines. Sunlord Electronics, another major passive component manufacturer, also announced price adjustments for some of its inductors, ferrite beads, ceramic inductors, power inductors, varistors and automotive ferrite beads.

Entering 2026, PULSE, a magnetic components brand under Yageo, announced price adjustments for some of its ferrite beads, inductors and resistors. On January 16, Yageo and its subsidiary KEMET announced price hikes. On the same day, UniOhm announced a planned price increase for 0402-1206 size resistors. On January 21, Walsin Technology issued a price increase notice for its resistor products.

Overall, there are roughly two key reasons behind the collective release of price increase notices by passive component manufacturers in this round:

One is the cost pressure driven by surging raw material prices, such as the price hikes of silver and other metallic materials including tin, copper, bismuth and cobalt.

The other is the skyrocketing demand for AI-related applications, which has driven up the prices of associated products like tantalum capacitors and high-end MLCCs.

As a critical raw material for passive component production, the skyrocketing silver price in 2025 may be the direct trigger for this round of price hikes, with NYMEX silver futures surging by as much as 143% for the full year.

In addition, the rapid growth of high-end demand led by AI has also emerged as an important driving force for the price increases in passive components this round.

Murata, the world’s leading passive component manufacturer, stated that a single NVIDIA GB300 server requires approximately 30,000 MLCCs, and the consumption for a single cabinet even hits a staggering 440,000 units. It is projected that by 2030, the demand for MLCCs from AI servers will rise by around 3.3 times compared with 2025 levels.