Resistor Price Rise: Pressure On Raw Material Costs Sweeps Across, Emerging Application Growth Points Established

A global wave of price increases is sweeping across the entire passive component industry. From November 2025, when mainland-based manufacturers took the lead in rising prices, to January 2026, when the world's leading Yageo joined, the price increase trend gradually spread, eventually forming an industry-wide resonance and formally establishing a new round of price increase cycles. Behind this is the dual push of raw material cost pressure and the reshaping of the supply and demand pattern. The rise of AI servers and new energy vehicles has also established a new growth direction for the industry.

1. Price increase process: from cost repair to trend price increase, three steps to establish the cycle

1. November 2025: Lu Zi takes the lead in stopping bleeding

2. December 2025: Mainland-owned manufacturers will collectively follow up

3. January 2026: Global leaders set the tone and trends are established

Around January 15th, Yageo, the global resistor leader, officially announced that it would increase prices for mainstream thick film resistor product lines such as RC0402 and RC0603 by 15%-20% starting from February 1st.As the company with the strongest pricing power in the industry, the addition of Yageo marks the shift in resistor price increases from a cost-restorative increase by mainland-owned manufacturers to a trend-oriented price increase led by leading companies, and the industry-wide price increase cycle has been fully established.

2. Panorama of price increases: cost and supply resonate to promote industry pricing restoration

This round of resistor price increases is not driven by a single factor, but the result of the resonance of the dual forces of bottom-up cost pressure and top-down supply integration. It is essentially a reshaping of the industry's supply and demand pattern and pricing system.

1. Bottom-up: Raw material costs break through the critical point

Soaring raw material prices are the direct driver of price increases.Among them, silver, the key material of resistance electrode paste, once rose by more than 50% in 2025, hitting a 45-year high; prices of basic metals such as copper and tin, as well as special metals such as ruthenium and palladium, have risen across the board, causing manufacturers' production costs to rise sharply. The cost pressure has exceeded the internal digestion capacity of the company, becoming the core inducement for price increases in the entire industry.

2. Top-down: clearing supply and reshaping the pattern

A simple cost increase is not enough to trigger large-scale price increases across the industry. Behind it is a deep adjustment on the supply side.Some domestic small and medium-sized resistor manufacturers that have long relied on low-price competition have reduced production or withdrawn from the market due to their inability to absorb cost pressures. The supply side has actively contracted, causing market share and pricing power to re-concentrate to first- and second-tier manufacturers such as Yageo, Housheng, Huaxinke, and Fenghua Hi-Tech.This price increase is not only a reasonable transmission of costs, but also a restoration of market order and a revaluation of the industry's pricing power.

3. Underlying logic: demand engine switches, high-end market becomes the main channel

Different from previous industry cycles dominated by consumer electronics, the core driving force for the prosperity of the resistor industry this time comes from the two emerging fields of AI computing infrastructure and new energy vehicles. The two not only bring about growth in demand, but also promote the upgrading of the quality of demand, completely reshaping the demand structure of the resistor market.

1. AI server: igniting demand for high-performance resistors

According to industry chain information, the AI-related revenue share of many resistor manufacturers in Taiwan is expected to jump from single digits to 10%-15% in 2026, becoming a core growth driver.It is worth noting that the stringent requirements for component performance and reliability of AI servers have created strict certification thresholds, which has brought structural growth opportunities to leading cross-strait manufacturers and their distribution networks.Fenghua Hi-Tech's high-voltage and high-capacity mid-to-high voltage series resistor products have been widely used in AI server multi-phase power supply modules. Its high-precision thick film resistors have broken the Japanese monopoly and further enriched high-end supply.At present, domestic leading server manufacturers and top ODM manufacturers have full orders related to AI servers, which also continue to drive the growth in demand for high-end resistors.

2. New energy vehicles: building long-term barriers to vehicle regulations

Automotive-grade resistors need to pass AEC-Q200 certification. This certification has strict requirements on the manufacturer's materials, processes, and quality management systems, and the certification cycle is long. However, once passed, it can form a deeply binding long-term supply relationship with car companies.For distributors, having the agency rights for automobile-grade products is equivalent to obtaining a stable ticket to enter the future automobile supply chain.Fenghua Hi-tech's automotive-grade high-voltage resistors have passed AEC-Q200 certification and have successfully entered the new energy vehicle supply chain. Its full series of alloy resistors also achieve ultra-low resistance, low-temperature drift and other excellent properties to meet automotive-grade requirements.

4. Distributor Strategy: Transformation from Intermediary to Value Service Provider

• Optimize the product portfolio: Focus on high-growth tracks such as AI and new energy vehicles, reduce the stocking weight of general consumer electronics materials, increase the stocking and promotion of high-end categories such as precision alloy resistors, automotive grade resistors, and high-precision chip resistors, and establish close cooperation with original manufacturers with AI and automotive grade product certifications to seize advantageous resources.
• Deepen technical services: Establish a professional FAE team to provide selection solutions based on customer terminal product (such as power module, BMS) needs, assist original manufacturers and customers in completing testing and documentation support for automotive grade and industrial grade products, and help customers break through certification thresholds.

• Strengthen the resilience of the supply chain: Recognize the long-term nature of high-end production capacity shortages and price increases, establish a transparent price communication mechanism and long-term supply agreements with core customers, avoid speculative stockpiling, and carry out strategic stocking of key materials; pay close attention to the price trends of upstream precious metals such as silver and copper, predict the original manufacturer's pricing strategy, and control costs.

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5. Conclusion