[News] First Wave of Chip Resistor Hikes: Walsin Reportedly Follows Yageo, Up to 20% from Feb. 1

Rising material costs are driving a tech-sector price surge, now hitting passive components. According to the Economic Daily News, after chip resistor leader Yageo and China’s largest chip resistor maker UniOhm kicked off the initial hike, Taiwan’s Walsin Technology has followed, with increases potentially reaching up to 20%.

Commercial Times reports that Walsin Tech officially issued a price notice on January 21, covering all resistor values from 0201 to 1206, effective February 1 and aligned with Yageo’s schedule. Yageo had earlier announced selective hikes on key series—including RC0402, RC0603, RC0805, and RC1206—with increases roughly 10–20%, as per the Economic Daily News.

Walsin reportedly cited rising labor, electricity, and raw material costs as key drivers, noting that core metals—including silver, palladium, ruthenium, tin, and copper—remain under significant pressure amid market volatility.

Citing resistor makers, Commercial Times notes that soaring silver prices could trigger a second wave of price hikes. China, the world’s largest silver producer and third-largest exporter of silver products, has extended control measures to silver items, making prices more likely to rise, the report suggests, adding if silver exceeds $100 per ounce, it could further fuel the next round of increases.

According to Commercial Times, since the start of 2026, the passive component price surge has spread across tantalum capacitors, bead inductors, and chip resistors. For instance, Japan’s Panasonic has informed distributors and direct customers of 15–30% increases on select tantalum capacitor models, set to take effect February 1, Commercial Times reported.

The report points out the trend is fueled by limited capacity growth in recent years, while AI applications are driving unprecedented demand, far surpassing the scale of the previous automotive-driven cycle. As a result, large EMS and ODM companies are closely monitoring soaring copper and silver prices, worried that the surge may soon impact the high-volume multilayer ceramic capacitor (MLCC) market, the report notes.

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(Photo credit: Walsin Technology)