00:03Korea's component makers just landed the biggest MLCC order in the company's history.
00:08It is worth more than 1 trillion won.
00:11The buyer is a global big tech firm building AI chips.
00:14The contract is more than double the one signed in June,
00:17and consensus forecasts now put next year's operating profit near 2 trillion won.
00:22It's Wednesday, September 2.
00:24Let's take a look at a key development in Korea's industry sector.
00:27AI accelerator programs at the largest U.S. technology firms need vastly more multilayer ceramic capacitors than conventional servers.
00:35Supply has been the constraint, not demand.
00:39Samsung Electromechanics is now locking in volume and expanding capacity at the same time.
00:43Here's what the numbers show.
00:45Samsung Electromechanics signed a 1.0722 trillion won contract, about $783 million, to supply MLCCs for AI servers, the company
00:56disclosed on September 1.
00:57The deal covers one year of supply and is more than twice the size of the roughly 450 billion won
01:03agreement signed with a different big tech customer in June.
01:06Revenue rose from 10.2941 trillion won in 2024 to 11.3145 trillion won in 2025, with brokerage consensus pointing
01:16to 14.3443 trillion won in 2026.
01:20Operating profit follows the same path, 735 billion won, then 913.3 billion won, and a consensus 1.9448 trillion
01:31won for 2026, roughly $1.42 billion.
01:35Separately, LG Energy Solution agreed to buy $1.5 billion of lithium carbonate from SmackOver Lithium, about $2.0534 trillion
01:45won.
01:46That contract covers 80,000 tons from 2029 to 2038, enough for around 1.8 million electric vehicles, sourced in
01:54Arkansas using direct lithium extraction.
01:56So what does this mean for supply chain managers and industry analysts?
02:00Earlier, we said supply was the constraint rather than demand.
02:04Here's what that actually means for you.
02:06Long-dated volume contracts are now the way capacity is being allocated, which pushes latecomers toward spot pricing.
02:13Both deals point the same direction.
02:15Korean suppliers are trading pricing flexibility for multi-year visibility with North American customers.
02:20Watch third-quarter MLCC shipment volumes for confirmation of the capacity build.
02:25Watch whether the 2026 consensus of 14.3443 trillion won holds through the next earnings revision.
02:33Watch Arkansas Lithium Project milestones ahead of first delivery in 2029.
02:37That's today's AI Prism, Industry Daily.
02:40This episode was produced with AI assistance based on Seoul Economic Daily reporting and reviewed by a human editor.
02:47AI Prism is a WAN IFRA award-winning series.
02:50We'll be back tomorrow.
02:51Hi, my name is
댓글