MLCC Shortage 2026 for a Small Buyer: Walsin Lists 187 Class II MLCC at 10 µF or More in 1206 and 1210, and 5 Were on the Hong Kong Shelf on 23 September 2026

The 2026 MLCC shortage is a high-capacitance story, not an every-capacitor story. TrendForce reported tight server-grade parts and falling standard spot quotes within weeks of each other. Walsin Technology (Walsin) lists 187 Class II MLCC at 10 µF or more in 1206 and 1210, and 5 of them were on our shelf on 23 September 2026.

Venatech Limited, an authorised Walsin distributor in Hong Kong, wrote this from two things: TrendForce, eeNews Europe and Digitimes pages we fetched on 20 October 2026, and the 24,025 real rows of 00_ALL_MLCC_parts_combined.xlsx, Walsin’s own export, plus our ready-stock snapshot dated 23 September 2026. Every part number below is real and every Walsin count is of part numbers, not pieces. We do not forecast prices here and we do not quote them.

What did the MLCC news say in August and September 2026?

Three things, and they pull in different directions. High-capacitance and server-grade MLCC are tight with lead times of five to ten months reported; standard consumer parts are softening; and the next price notices target X5R and X6S. Each item below carries its publisher and date.

• On 4 August 2026 TrendForce News reported that Samsung Electro-Mechanics (SEMCO) was raising MLCC prices 30% across its portfolio from 1 August, citing the Chosun Ilbo of 29 July. The same article stated that channel inventory of general-purpose 1 µF to 22 µF parts had fallen below a 30-day warning level.
• On 18 August 2026 TrendForce News, citing ETNews, put standard-case MLCC lead times at 14 to 18 weeks and high-capacitance and high-voltage parts at about 15 to 20 weeks. High-spec products were put at five to ten months or longer. It also reported, from securities reports cited by the Korean press, that several leading makers had no inventory of certain server-grade high-capacitance parts, with restocking expected between November 2026 and January 2027.
• On 27 August 2026 TrendForce said SEMCO would raise 4Q26 prices for OEM and ODM customers, by 25 to 30% on average for consumer-grade X5R and 10 to 20% for high-end X6S used in AI servers. It expected the supply-demand gap to widen further in 4Q26.
• On 21 September 2026 TrendForce News reported that spot prices for standard consumer MLCC began falling in early July after distributors released stockpiles, while AI-grade orders at some Chinese suppliers extended into 2Q27.

Earlier, eeNews Europe on 19 May 2026 reported that 1206 and 1210 high-capacitance parts had lead times beyond 20 weeks while 0402 and 0603 parts remained readily available. That sentence is why this post counts 1206 and 1210.

Which MLCC classes are tight and which are loosening?

The reports name classes, not part numbers. We translated each class into a filter on the Walsin export and counted. Of the five classes below, the three reported as tight are the three where our shelf is thinnest. Our shelf reading is ours, not TrendForce’s.

The class II set is X5R, X6S, X7R, X7S and X8R. The last row matters as much as the others. A buyer who reads “MLCC shortage” and panics over a 0603 100 nF line is reacting to the wrong half of the news.

How many Walsin MLCC sit in the classes the news names?

There are 957 Class II part numbers from 1 µF to 22 µF, 293 at 10 µF or more, and 187 at 10 µF or more in 1206 and 1210. All 187 are spread across 6 series, but 131 sit in General Purpose alone. We deduplicated the export on part number first, which leaves 23,600 distinct parts.

The other 56 are Soft Termination SH (27), Automotive Soft Termination ST (12), Low Profile TT (8), Automotive MG (5) and Automotive MT (4). The four MT parts are all 10 µF X7R in 1210, among them MT32B106K250 at 25 Vdc. Walsin’s approval sheets are the authority for what each series means; see the Walsin MLCC product page for the series list.

How deep is the Walsin 10 µF shelf in 1206 and 1210?

Thin in the places that matter. The 187 parts form 70 distinct positions, where a position is one case size, dielectric, capacitance and rated voltage. Seventeen of the 70 positions hold a single part, and only 23 are covered by more than one series. That is the number to remember: a second source inside Walsin exists for a third of these positions, not most.

We have not seen this counted anywhere: all 49 Walsin X6S parts at 10 µF or more, the dielectric the 27 August notice names for AI servers, are absent from the 23 September shelf, and all 127 X6S parts in the export belong to the General Purpose series. We counted this directly in the export and the stock snapshot.

What should a small buyer do this week?

Run the class test on your own BOM, not the headline. Sort every capacitor line into the five classes in the table, and spend your effort on lines in the first three. Then use this checklist, which is ours and not TrendForce’s.

1. List every MLCC line of 10 µF or more in 1206 or 1210 and note its rated voltage.
2. Ask your current distributor for a written quoted lead time per line, and the date of the quote.
3. For each line, check whether the Walsin export holds a part in the same position. Our free cross-reference tool does this for up to 500 part numbers and lists differences beside each match.
4. Where a position holds one Walsin part, treat the second source as a single point and look for a neighbour at a higher rated voltage, after checking DC bias.
5. Check what is on the shelf at ready stock as at 23 September 2026 and ask us for a current figure.
6. Order for the next qualification need, not for fear. Reports show standard parts softening, and overbuying them is the 2026 version of the mistake.
7. Re-read the news monthly. The dated figures above will move.

Our guide to building a BOM that survives a shortage sets out the same method line by line, and what the AI build-out did to your general-purpose MLCC covers the small-case end that this post leaves alone.

What does the news not tell you?

Which of your lines are affected. Each report is a trade-press summary of other reports, usually Korean, Japanese or Chinese. None of them is a lead time for your part number, and none is a Walsin lead time. Walsin was named in the 4 August TrendForce article for consumer MLCC, and we do not repeat that figure: it is a price, it carried no named source, and it is not ours to confirm.

We hold no manufacturer’s affected-part list for any maker and make no statement about any specific part from any other manufacturer. Our shelf is one dated snapshot, 23 September 2026, and it will have moved. Qualification stays with you: confirm any substitute against both datasheets and qualify it in your own circuit.

Where do the figures come from?

The Walsin counts come from 00_ALL_MLCC_parts_combined.xlsx, Walsin’s published MLCC export, and from Walsin’s own series datasheets for what each series means. The market figures were all fetched on 20 October 2026. Trade-press reports are quoted for what they say, not endorsed as fact.

• TrendForce News, 4 August 2026: https://www.trendforce.com/news/2026/08/04/news-across-the-board-30-price-hike-mlcc-price-surge-intensifies/
• TrendForce News, 18 August 2026: https://www.trendforce.com/news/2026/08/18/news-mlcc-lead-times-diverge-as-high-end-products-stretch-to-5-10-months-on-ai-demand-tightness-may-extend-into-2027/
• TrendForce press release, 27 August 2026: https://www.trendforce.com/presscenter/news/20260827-13202.html
• TrendForce News, 21 September 2026: https://www.trendforce.com/news/2026/09/21/news-chinas-mlcc-market-splits-ai-grade-orders-reportedly-stretch-into-2q27-while-consumer-spot-prices-slide/
• eeNews Europe, 19 May 2026: https://www.eenewseurope.com/en/ai-drives-mlcc-shortage/
• Walsin MLCC parametric export (24,025 rows) and Venatech ready-stock snapshot as at 23 September 2026.

The short version

The reported tightness is in high-capacitance and server-grade MLCC, and the reported softness is in standard consumer parts. Walsin lists 957 Class II parts from 1 µF to 22 µF, 187 at 10 µF or more in 1206 and 1210, and our 23 September 2026 shelf held 5 of those 187 and none of the 49 X6S parts at 10 µF or more.

Send us the 10 µF-plus lines on your BOM and we will return the Walsin position for each, with every difference stated. And a question back: is your lead-time risk in the lines the headlines name, or in the one 1210 you have never second-sourced?

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