Murata Manufacturing plans to invest a total of approximately 10 billion Japanese yen (about 500 million RMB) by 2028 to expand the production capacity of silicon capacitors at its Japanese facilities in Kanazawa and Sendai, as well as its subsidiary in Finland. Currently, silicon capacitors are primarily used in medical devices, but they have the potential to be expanded to applications such as smartphones and servers in the future. The company aims to meet the growing demand by increasing production through these investments.According to the information provided, silicon capacitors are manufactured using semiconductor fabrication processes, with a dielectric layer made of silicon, which offers better stability. Compared to conventional mainstream capacitors, silicon capacitors have advantages such as higher capacitance density, reliability, and high-frequency characteristics. They have a long aging time of up to 10 years and can withstand temperatures up to 250℃, performing well even in harsh environments.Currently, the price of silicon capacitors is several times higher than that of ordinary MLCC (multilayer ceramic capacitors), limiting their application to high-value and cost-insensitive areas such as advanced medical devices. However, considering the advantage of thinness, silicon capacitors are also a good choice for smartphones, which have increasingly limited internal space. Murata's silicon capacitors can have a thickness as low as 0.05 millimeters.

In March of this year, Murata Manufacturing announced plans to invest approximately 50 million euros (about 39.2 million RMB) in its subsidiary in France by 2024 to increase the production capacity of silicon capacitors. This investment plan aims to establish the same production system in the two Japanese facilities and the Finnish subsidiary, enabling global supply of silicon capacitors. Murata Manufacturing hopes that these investments will help meet the growing market demand.