AI buyers have locked W3.6tr of 2027 parts from Samsung Electro-Mechanics
Five long-term supply agreements in five months have reserved about W3.6 trillion of AI components for 2027-28 delivery, against W6.78 trillion of capacity spending now underway. The customers are buying certainty; the shareholders are carrying the build.
Vincent Jiang · 3 min read
The fifth deal tips the total past W3.6tr
A deal disclosed this week made it five: an unnamed global buyer agreed to take about W290bn of multilayer ceramic capacitors and inductors from Samsung Electro-Mechanics, delivered across 2027 12. Together, this year's five disclosed long-term supply agreements cover roughly W3.6tr ($2.6bn) of AI components, nearly all of it for servers that will be built in 2027 and 2028 12.
Four months of contracts, every window opening in 2027
The run, in order: W1.56tr of silicon capacitors in May for 2027-28 delivery; W454bn of AI-server MLCCs in June; W295bn in July; W1.07tr on 1 September, the largest MLCC contract in company history, covering all of calendar 2027; and this week's W290bn 134. The disclosed figures sum to about W3.67tr, against the W3.6tr the company rounds to 12.
Five deals in five months reserved W3.67tr of 2027-28 supply
Data
| Value | |
|---|---|
| May: silicon capacitors | W1.56tr |
| June: MLCCs | W0.45tr |
| July: MLCCs | W0.3tr |
| 1 Sept: MLCCs, record | W1.07tr |
| 29 Sept: MLCCs + inductors | W0.29tr |
What the buyers reserve is a place in the queue
Scale explains the rush: Nvidia's coming Vera Rubin platform is expected to carry about 800,000 MLCCs per system, its Feynman successor about a million 4. Every delivery window disclosed so far opens in 2027 or later 123.
Hana Securities analyst Kim Min-kyung puts FC-BGA substrate lead times at 48 to 56 weeks against a normal 12, and says AI server buyers carry high price tolerance into talks 1. The company raised MLCC prices 30 percent in August with lines near full capacity, and long-term MLCC agreements now cover more than 10 global customers 345.
The Inference traced the demand squeeze on 28 September, when AI racks needing 600,000 capacitors each had the supplier rationing its order book.
W6.78tr of shareholder money rides on 2027
The build costs more than the backlog. On 28 September the board approved W4.27tr to expand FC-BGA capacity at Sejong, its largest single-product investment ever and 43.6 percent of consolidated equity, with spending through May 2028 and first mass production in September 2028 67.
A further W2.51tr goes to substrate equipment in Vietnam, where construction costs sit outside the disclosed figure 8. Global Big Tech customers are putting up part of the capital for Sejong and guaranteeing future volume, per the filing 68.
The build outweighs the backlog: W6.78tr of capex against W3.67tr of orders
Data
| Value | |
|---|---|
| 2026 locked orders | W3.67tr |
| Sejong FC-BGA capex | W4.27tr |
| Vietnam substrate capex | W2.51tr |
The profit case is in the current books: the securities industry expects Component Solutions operating profit of up to W1.3tr this year, more than double 2025's roughly W600bn 5. If 2027 demand slips, the spend is committed regardless: the program runs to May 2028, and the customer funding covers part of the build, not all of it 68.
Watch the fourth-quarter price settlements
Two readings carry the story: MLCC prices settled in fourth-quarter talks, which Hana expects to beat market expectations 1, and 2027 capital spending, guided to double from W3tr to W6tr 4. A sixth contract, near W700bn with a global power and components company, was in final talks in late September 5.
The counterparty split is the tradable fact in the run: the supplier holds five contracts of locked volume and the pricing talks, while its customers hold the bill at prices Hana describes as high-tolerance 1. The counterweights are real: Ajinomoto controls about 95 percent of the build-up film inside every substrate and is weighing a rise of at least 30 percent of its own 8, while Chinese makers take the conventional MLCC ground being ceded 4. First output from the new Sejong lines is scheduled for September 2028 6.
Deepdive
AI-generated from this story and its cited sources. Not investment advice.
