Panasonic has announced a 15%-30% price increase on 30-40 models of tantalum polymer capacitors, effective February 1, 2026. This is the company's first price hike in 2025, following a previous increase in late 2024. The tantalum supply chain, characterized by long lead times and a highly concentrated market (dominated by KEMET, AVX, and Vishay), suggests broader price increases may follow in 2026.
In contrast, chipmaker Analog Devices (ADI) reported a strong 17% year-over-year revenue growth for fiscal 2025, reaching $11.02 billion. Its operating profit surged 44% to $2.93 billion. ADI's CFO cited robust industrial and communications markets driving bookings, with Q1 2026 revenue projected around $3.1 billion.
Other industry movements include a potential joint NAND flash fab venture in the US by Kioxia and Western Digital, aligned with US-Japan supply chain strategies. While this could reshape long-term production geography, a 3-5 year lead time means minimal short-term supply impact.
Meanwhile, a surge in DRAM prices is severely impacting the motherboard market. Major manufacturers like ASUS and GIGABYTE have seen sales plummet 40%-50% year-over-year during the key year-end promotion season, as the market shift to DDR5 increases system costs.
Official data shows China's electronics manufacturing sector remains strong, with value-added output up 10.6% year-over-year for the first ten months of 2025, and integrated circuit output growing 10.2% to 386.6 billion units.
ICgoodFind: The market faces divergent pressures, from component price hikes to volatile end-demand, requiring close monitoring of supply chain shifts.
