Gold, Silver, And Copper Keep Rising: At The Beginning Of 2026, The Wave Of Semiconductor Price Increases Will Hit From Upstream!

1. The bull market for metals across the board has triggered cost pressure on passive components from the source.

1. Tantalum metal → Price increase of tantalum capacitors

• Tantalum pentoxide 4-month price increase16.8%~18.6%
• The supply of tantalum concentrate tightens, and the industrial chain is transmitted downwards
• KEMET has two rounds of price increases: +10%~15% in June and +20%~30% in October
• Panasonic to raise prices in November15%~30%

2. Silver → Resistors, inductors, and magnetic beads soared

• The price of silver will rise from US$30 per ounce to as high as US$80 in 2025.Increased by more than 130%
• Palladium, ruthenium, copper and tin rose simultaneously
• Fenghua Hi-tech made continuous price adjustments in November and December, with a range of5%~30%
• Fujie, Sunlord, Changlong and other manufacturers followed suit, and resistance increased.10%~20%
• At the beginning of 2026, Yageo PULSE magnetic beads have officially increased their prices

3. Copper → Package lead frame, CCL, PCB are all pressure-bearing

• Copper prices rise nearly 40% in 2025, LME hitsUS$12,960/ton
• The world's four largest lead frame manufacturers will increase prices starting from New Year's Day 202615%~30%, pushing up packaging costs
• Kingboard’s laminated board prices increased by 10% on December 26, and the cumulative price increase in the second half of the year15%~20%
• Taiwanese and mainland CCL manufacturers are generally planning to follow suit

4. Gold → High-end packaging costs soar

• Gold price growth in 2025Over 70%, the largest annual gain since 1979
• Gold Bump packaging costs have increased significantly, and packaging and testing plants such as Qibang and Nanmao have raised their quotations

2. Key electronic materials have skyrocketed simultaneously, exacerbating industry-wide costs.

• Tungsten hexafluoride: Expected price increase in 202670%~90%, for logic/memory chip filling
• Indium Phosphide: 800G/1.6T optical chip core material, bullish in the medium to long term,High probability of doubling
• High-end fiberglass cloth: AI carrier board/high-speed PCB key material, partially rising from August 202520%+

3. Wafer foundry: mature + advanced process, comprehensive price increase

• TSMC: Prices for advanced processes below 5nm will increase for 4 consecutive years starting from 2026, with an average annual3%~5%
• 8-inch BCD process: SMIC and World Advanced Technology increased prices by about 10%, impacting PMIC power chips
• Power Semiconductor is planning to raise prices, UMC’s price decline has narrowed, and Huahong has taken the lead in raising prices before
• Driving factors: AI power chip competition for production capacity + 8-inch production capacity contraction + high raw material costs

4. Memory super cycle: Both volume and price rise, which is transmitted to the terminal

DRAM

• DDR4 Q1 contract price rises again30%~50%, spot prices have risen in the second half of the year200%~400%
• DDR5 Q1 rises40%+
• HBM production capacity squeezes conventional memory, Samsung and SK Hynix HBM3E prices increase by nearly 20%

NAND

• Enterprise-grade SSD Q1 rises20%~30%
• Consumer-grade SSD/eMMC starts to rise in January10%~20%, mobile terminal25%~35%

NOR Flash

• Macronix plans to increase in Q130%
• GigaDevice continues to increase prices moderately, AI drives demand for code storage

Terminal impact

• PC manufacturers (Dell, Lenovo, HP) increase prices10%~30%
• The proportion of mobile phone storage costs rises to 10%~20%, and the profits of low-end models are under pressure
• Many institutions have lowered their 2026 mobile phone and laptop shipment expectations

5. Other major manufacturers have intensively announced price increases.

• ADI: 2026.2.1 Price increase for the entire series, by approx.15%, the highest military standard product30%
• ROHM: Price adjustment for some products on March 1, 2026
• TE connector: 2026.1.5 Price increase for all product lines5%~12%

Conclusion