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Samsung Electro-Mechanics and ADI Enter Silicon Capacitors
On May 20, Samsung Electro-Mechanics signed a ~$1.1 billion silicon capacitor supply contract with a U.S. big tech, running through end-2028. One day earlier, ADI announced a $1.5 billion acquisition of Empower Semiconductor.
Same component. Two days.
Silicon capacitors sit inside the AI chip package, right next to the GPU, stabilizing power at the closest possible point. The broader silicon cap market is around $4B and spread across multiple suppliers. But narrow it to high-end AI chip-packaging applications, and the market was effectively a Murata–TSMC duopoly.
Two new entrants walked into that tightly held space. Samsung Electro-Mechanics extended its MLCC and FC-BGA substrate expertise into silicon caps. ADI absorbed Empower's portfolio into its power-management platform. Four different paths now lead to the same component:
a passives maker, a foundry, a substrate maker, and an analog IC company.
Silicon capacitors used to be a small niche market. AI's expansion is enlarging that niche, and incumbents are rising alongside the new entrants.
That is reason enough to keep watching the component layer.
