💼 Geisha Powders Feed AI Servers
Bloomberg reported on September 27 how Osaka-based Sakai Chemical — a company founded in 1918, known for powders for geisha makeup — became a key supplier to the AI industry. Its high-purity barium titanate (BaTiO3) is used in the dielectric of MLCC capacitors for the power nodes of AI servers, and its production lines are operating near their limits.
🌍 The AI boom is hitting not only GPUs but also "boring" chemistry: the market for dielectric powders is an oligopoly led by Sakai (~25–28% of the world). Profit in the Electronic Materials segment grew by 32.2% in FY27/3 despite stagnant revenue.
👤 Inside an AI server — thousands of ceramic capacitors based on barium titanate, not just GPUs. The figure "28–30 thousand MLCCs" is only an industry estimate; from Sakai's capex (¥5.7 billion) it will be seen whether the powder will become the next bottleneck for AI.
Source 1: https://aiunderstanding.org/news/sakai-chemical-s-fine-powder-expertise-fuels-ai-data-center-boom