Murata Manufacturing is preparing to discontinue selected part numbers across nine MLCC product series, according to a customer notification circulating in the electronics supply chain.
The affected series are GRM, GRJ, GRT, GXM, GXT, GCM, GCJ, GCG and ZRA. The change covers individual part numbers rather than the product series as a whole, and does not represent a withdrawal by Murata from the MLCC market.
Customers have until December 31, 2027 to complete the relevant review and confirmation. The reported last order date is March 31, 2028, followed by final shipments through March 31, 2029.
The change applies to selected part numbers rather than entire product series. That distinction matters. Murata continues to offer a broad MLCC portfolio, including products for automotive, high-reliability and high-capacitance applications. The latest move is therefore better viewed as a product-line adjustment than a withdrawal from the MLCC market. Murata’s own corporate materials also continue to identify capacitors as a major part of its Components business.
Capacity Is Moving Toward Higher-Value Applications
MLCC manufacturers have been dealing with a market that is no longer driven simply by overall unit demand.
AI servers and data-center equipment are changing the mix. These systems use substantial numbers of capacitors, including high-capacitance and higher-reliability devices. Demand is also increasing in areas such as automotive electronics and other high-performance equipment.
At the same time, manufacturers have limited production capacity and must decide where that capacity will deliver the greatest return.
Recent market data points to stronger orders at the major suppliers. TrendForce reported in July that the book-to-bill ratios of Murata, Samsung Electro-Mechanics and Taiyo Yuden had reached 1.30, 1.31 and 1.25, respectively, by late June 2026. The figures were the highest recorded for the three companies since the pandemic period.
TrendForce also reported that shipments from the three companies reached a five-year monthly high in June. Meanwhile, some capacity was being shifted toward MLCCs used in AI applications, putting pressure on supply for certain general-purpose products.
This helps put the Murata announcement into context.
The issue is not necessarily a shortage of MLCCs in general. A customer may still find plenty of capacitors on the market while having difficulty finding one particular combination of capacitance, voltage, package size and dielectric from a qualified source.
That distinction matters to procurement teams.
An EOL Part Is Not Always Easy to Replace
On paper, MLCCs can look interchangeable. In production, they often are not.
A replacement needs to be checked against the actual requirements of the circuit, including capacitance, tolerance, rated voltage, case size, dielectric, temperature characteristics and DC-bias performance. Termination construction can also matter in applications where mechanical stress is a concern.
The qualification requirements add another layer.
A commercial electronics product may be able to move to a second source relatively quickly. An automotive or industrial product with a long service life can be very different. Supplier changes may require reliability testing, engineering approval and customer qualification before the alternative can be used in production.
This is why an EOL notice covering individual part numbers can have a much larger impact than the number of affected components might suggest.
The available alternatives will depend on the specification and the application. There may be several sources for a mainstream MLCC, while a specialized or qualification-sensitive device may have far fewer options.
Where Will the Demand Go?
The global MLCC market has a wide supplier base, including Samsung Electro-Mechanics, TDK, Taiyo Yuden, Yageo and Walsin Technology, as well as manufacturers in mainland China and other regions.
Each has a different product mix.
Some suppliers are particularly competitive in mainstream consumer applications. Others have built stronger positions in automotive, high-reliability or high-capacitance products. Capacity is also not distributed evenly across manufacturers.
That makes it difficult to predict a simple transfer of Murata volume to another supplier.
For some discontinued parts, customers may find an equivalent product relatively easily. For others, the replacement process may involve several candidate parts and a longer qualification cycle.
The result could be a gradual redistribution of demand rather than a sudden shift.
For component buyers, supplier diversification may become more important as a result. Having a second qualified source before a component reaches EOL can be considerably easier than finding one after production requirements have already become urgent.
Pricing May Diverge Between MLCC Segments
Pricing is another area to watch.
The MLCC market has been showing different conditions across product categories. Strong demand from AI infrastructure is supporting higher-end specifications, while mature products continue to face competition from multiple suppliers.
TrendForce reported in August that Samsung Electro-Mechanics had raised prices for certain MLCC products as demand from AI servers and data centers remained strong. The report also pointed to tighter supply for some high-capacitance, low-voltage MLCCs.
Taiyo Yuden has also made price adjustments in 2026, with market reports linking some of the changes to demand for high-capacitance products used in AI servers and constraints in certain product categories.
This does not mean that MLCC prices will rise across the board.
A more likely outcome is a wider gap between individual segments. High-end products with tighter capacity may see stronger pricing, while mature specifications may remain more competitive.
For procurement, tracking the average MLCC market price may therefore tell only part of the story. The more useful information is often at the part-number level: availability, lead time, supplier capacity and the number of qualified alternatives.
What OEMs and EMS Companies Need to Consider
For customers using the affected Murata parts, the long transition period is useful — but only if it is used for engineering work as well as purchasing.
The first step is straightforward: identify where the affected part numbers appear in current and future BOMs.
The next question is how difficult each part will be to replace.
A general-purpose MLCC used in a relatively simple commercial product may have several possible alternatives. A component used in an automotive control system, industrial equipment or another long-life application could require much more work.
Engineering teams may need samples for testing. Procurement will need to compare availability and commercial conditions. Quality teams may need to verify the alternative source. In some cases, customers will also need to approve the new component before production can change over.
That process can take months, and sometimes considerably longer.
For this reason, the December 2027 review deadline may be more significant than the March 2028 last-time-buy date. By the time a customer reaches the final-order window, some alternatives may already have become less attractive because of capacity, lead time or qualification constraints.
Inventory is another consideration.
A last-time buy can protect a mature product that cannot easily be redesigned, but buying too early or too much can create excess inventory and tie up working capital. Storage requirements and the expected remaining life of the end product also need to be considered.
The decision is therefore not simply whether to buy more parts. It is a question of how much inventory is justified while an alternative source is being qualified.
The Role of Distributors Is Also Changing
Events such as the Murata EOL illustrate why component distributors increasingly have to do more than quote available stock.
For OEM and EMS customers, sourcing may involve checking inventory across several markets, identifying potential equivalents and comparing the practical availability of different sources.
Futuretech Components, an electronic component distributor, supports this type of work through global sourcing and equivalent-part evaluation for customers dealing with EOL and supply changes.
The distributor’s role, in this case, is less about finding a part number that looks similar on paper and more about helping procurement and engineering teams understand what is actually available and what may require qualification.
A More Fragmented MLCC Supply Market
Murata’s decision is unlikely to create a broad MLCC shortage by itself. Its significance is more subtle.
The industry is moving toward a market in which capacity, demand and pricing can vary substantially between individual MLCC specifications.
AI infrastructure is one driver of that change, but it is not the only one. Automotive electronics, industrial equipment and other applications continue to place different requirements on suppliers. Manufacturers are responding by adjusting product portfolios, investment priorities and capacity allocation.
For buyers, this means that category-level supply monitoring is becoming less useful.
A statement such as “MLCC supply is stable” may be true overall while doing little to explain why a particular 0402, 10-µF, high-voltage or automotive-qualified component has suddenly become difficult to source.
The Murata EOL therefore offers a useful reminder for both procurement and engineering teams: component lifecycle risk often appears at the part-number level before it becomes visible at the market level.
With final orders scheduled for March 2028 and final shipments extending into March 2029, affected customers still have time to qualify alternatives, review inventory requirements and adjust sourcing strategies.
The companies that use that window for engineering and supply planning will have more options when the transition eventually reaches production.
