Editor’s note: Electronics recycling will be featured in sessions at the 2026 E-Scrap: The Longevity Conference in New Orleans October 26-28.
Electronics manufacturers are once again warning about tight supplies for parts that are deeply embedded in circuit boards. Some of those components are now quoted on months-long lead times and at clearly higher prices than a year ago. Capacitors and complex circuit boards are seeing these pressures, and some familiar decommissioned systems are becoming more interesting as sources of parts.
At the start of 2026, several major passive component suppliers, including KEMET (Yageo Group) and Panasonic, announced new rounds of price increases on tantalum capacitors and related products, citing stronger orders from high-end computing and networking customers. Distributor notices describe multiple hikes in less than a year, often in the 15–30% range for selected server-grade polymer tantalum lines. Industry coverage characterizes this as a global “tantalum capacitor rally,” with KEMET, AVX, Panasonic, and Vishay responding to tight supply and higher demand from AI-oriented hardware builds. Walsin and other Taiwanese passive component makers have also raised prices across related categories, including chip resistors and inductors, as the broader cost wave spreads through the supply chain.
A similar pattern is emerging in high-end multilayer ceramic capacitors, or MLCCs. These are the small ceramic blocks clustered around chips and power circuits on almost every board, where they smooth power and filter electrical noise. Recent analyses note that AI servers use 10 to 15 times more MLCCs than general-purpose servers, driven by higher power levels and more demanding power delivery networks. Suppliers report that high-grade MLCCs for AI, industrial, and automotive applications are seeing strong double-digit demand growth, and that manufacturers are considering or implementing targeted price increases as capacity gets tighter at the top end of the product mix.
On the interconnect side, printed circuit board and laminate producers are describing growing constraints in very high layer-count boards and the base materials that support them. Reports from printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturers and CCL suppliers point to longer lead times and capacity strain for boards used in AI servers, switches, and high-speed backplanes, as designs move to higher layer counts, tighter impedance control, and more advanced low-loss materials. High layer-count PCB manufacturing and advanced laminate availability now rank as a primary bottleneck in scaling AI-class infrastructure, not just a background process. Memory prices have also moved up in 2026, but for recyclers and refurbishers the notable change is that small passive parts and complex boards are now following similar tightening patterns.
For the reuse and recycling sector, the relevance lies in how this affects hardware that is already leaving production environments. The servers, storage systems, and switches being retired from data centers and enterprise networks were designed with many of the same tantalum-rich power sections, dense MLCC arrays, and high-layer boards that suppliers now describe as constrained. In earlier periods of oversupply, it often made sense to treat most of that material as either whole-unit resale or straightforward commodity scrap. That default approach can be revisited as specific components and board types move into tighter conditions.
One practical response is to introduce a more deliberate look at certain product families and configurations before they enter bulk processing. Rather than viewing a server or switch only as a resale candidate or a mixed-metal input, operators can identify which models are likely to contain boards populated with the components now under pressure, such as polymer tantalum banks on power supply boards, high-density MLCC clusters, or complex backplanes and mezzanines. Those boards can be removed and separated into a stream aimed at brokers, repair operations, and other intermediaries that are prepared to work with tested second-hand electronics. At the same time, buyers facing higher prices or extended delivery times on these parts may be more willing to discuss qualified used boards and modules when new material is constrained.
This does not require slowing all material or attempting to harvest every board. Most incoming equipment will still move best through established, high-throughput processes, and most components on a typical board will not suddenly become scarce or valuable. The focus is narrower. This means when external market signals clearly show that certain categories of capacitors and high-layer boards are in short supply, it can be worth taking a closer look at the incoming streams that contain them. A limited amount of targeted removal may be enough to capture the upside without disrupting overall operations.
For operators who already track incoming hardware by model and configuration, the remaining step is to connect that information with current component and PCB market conditions and to express it in simple work instructions.
Where this goes from here
The conditions driving this cycle do not look like a short-term spike. AI infrastructure buildout is still in early stages and is likely to both accelerate and sustain over time as the tech refresh cycle velocity spikes. Tantalum ore supply is structurally constrained, and MLCC capacity expansions take years to come online. Barring a sharp pullback in data center investment, which no one is forecasting, the pressure on these component categories is more likely to persist through 2027 than to resolve in the next few quarters.
Looking at it through the lenses of the End-of-Life sector (recycling and reuse sector), it is worth noting that the hardware retired today was built when these parts were cheap and plentiful, meaning boards from 2020–2024 can carry component densities that are genuinely useful to the repair and broker market right now. That relevance fades as new equipment is designed with tighter bills of materials and alternative sourcing in mind.
As in any market, none of this is guaranteed. Component markets have reversed before, sometimes quickly, and what looks like a sustained upcycle can soften if AI hardware demand shifts or if new capacity comes online faster than expected. The prudent read is that the current environment justifies a closer look at incoming streams, without betting the operation on prices staying elevated indefinitely.
