Murata: Q3 MLCC Capacity Utilization to Hit 90%

Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd., a leading Japanese producer of multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs), has announced its financial results for the second quarter of 2024. The company achieved consolidated revenue of ¥421.7 billion (approximately RMB 20.75 billion), reflecting a year-over-year increase of 14.7%. Consolidated operating profit and net profit both rose by 32.5% to ¥66.4 billion (approximately RMB 3.27 billion). This marks the first growth in nearly nine quarters.

Murata attributes the substantial growth in Q2 to higher-than-expected demand for PCs and AI servers, significantly boosting MLCC sales. This surge in orders improved capacity utilization rates markedly.

In the components division, Murata reported a 20.8% year-over-year increase in revenue, reaching ¥251.6 billion (approximately RMB 12.38 billion). Capacitor sales (primarily MLCCs) rose by 20.0% to ¥203.3 billion (approximately RMB 10 billion). Sales of inductors and EMI filters increased by 24.2% to ¥48.3 billion (approximately RMB 2.38 billion).

The components/modules division saw a 6.6% revenue increase, totaling ¥167.2 billion (approximately RMB 8.23 billion). This includes a 13.0% rise in high-frequency and communication modules revenue to ¥99.3 billion (approximately RMB 4.9 billion). Energy and power components experienced an 11.2% decline to ¥42.6 billion (approximately RMB 2.1 billion), while functional components revenue grew by 20.6% to ¥25.2 billion (approximately RMB 1.24 billion).

President Norio Nakajima noted that the MLCC plant's capacity utilization rate was between 80% and 85% during Q2, with expectations to increase to 85% to 90% in Q3.