Hidden inside the newest smartphones are more than a thousand small pieces of pottery to control the flow of electricity. Inside an electric vehicle, there are more than 10,000.
They are called MLCC, for multilayer ceramic capacitors, and the increase in Covid-19 infections throughout East Asia increases the risk that factories will not be able to do enough.
Murata Manufacturing Co. of Kyoto, Japan, the largest manufacturer of MLCC, closed a major factory during the last week of August due to a virus outbreak. Japan’s Taiyo Yuden Co., another major manufacturer, said in August that it had suspended some operations at its factory in Malaysia due to employee infections.
“MLCC’s supply will remain very tight,” said Forrest Chen, an analyst at Taiwan-based research firm TrendForce.
The world has seen this year how the shortage of normally unnoticed components can affect the global supply chain. Global car and electronics manufacturers have shut down their factory lines and lost potential sales because they don’t have enough semiconductors.