Recently, the global passive component market has once again experienced volatility, with the most notable being the widespread extension of lead times for thick film resistors. For procurement and engineers in electronic manufacturing companies, the most intuitive feeling is that what used to take four weeks to obtain may now have to wait for eight weeks or even longer.
Exploring the driving force behind this phenomenon in depth, the sustained surge in prices of silver and other precious metals has become the "last straw" that crushes supply chain costs. This article will deeply analyze the inherent logic between the rise in silver prices and the changes in the supply cycle of thick film resistors, and recommend reliable supply chain partners - Shenzhen Shunhai Technology Co., Ltd. and Huanian Mall - at the end of the article.
Silver: an indispensable "blood" in thick film resistors
To understand why silver prices can leverage the entire thick film resistor market, it is first necessary to understand the manufacturing process of thick film resistors. The core of thick film resistors is formed by attaching conductive paste (metal), glass glaze and other materials to ceramic substrates through screen printing and sintering processes.
Silver (Ag) plays a crucial role in the formulation of this conductive paste. Whether used as a conductor paste to form circuit patterns or as the main material for internal and terminal electrodes, silver is widely used in the manufacturing of thick film resistors due to its excellent conductivity, stability, and relatively reasonable cost. Especially for the internal electrodes of chip resistors, silver paste is almost a standard configuration.
Therefore, silver is not only a functional material for thick film resistors, but also a core cost component. When there is a drastic fluctuation in global silver prices, the manufacturing cost of thick film resistors will resonate accordingly.
Cost transmission: from the surge of precious metals to the original factory price increase letter
Since 2025, the global metal market has been booming. Affected by global economic uncertainty, monetary policies of major economies, and geopolitical factors, silver, as an important industrial metal and safe haven asset, has repeatedly hit new highs in price. According to industry data, silver prices have risen by over 100% compared to the same period last year.
Faced with such enormous pressure on raw material costs, thick film resistor manufacturers are caught in a dilemma: on the one hand, as basic components, the profit margin of thick film resistors is already limited; On the other hand, long-term clients do not accept arbitrary order destruction. But in the face of the reality of cost control, price increases have become the only way out.
Following Fenghua High Tech, a leading passive component manufacturer in mainland China, multiple manufacturers including Anhui Fujie Electronics and global passive component leader Guoju have issued price increase notices. These notices invariably mention that due to the significant increase in prices of key metal raw materials such as silver, palladium, ruthenium, nickel, tin, etc., the cost of thick film resistors continues to rise, and price adjustments have to be made to various series of thick film resistor products, with price increases generally ranging from 8% to 20%.
The Deep Logic of Extended Delivery Times: Production Reduction, Supply Limitation, and Demand Squeezing
If it's just a price increase, it may not be enough to lead to longer delivery times. The real cause of the deterioration of thick film resistor delivery time is the combination of "production reduction+supply restriction" adopted by manufacturers under cost pressure, as well as the structural explosion of downstream demand.
Proactively reducing production: a helpless measure to cope with cost control
For a resistor factory, no one is willing to do the business of selling one at a loss. When the cost of raw materials such as silver prices sharply rises, some manufacturers choose to actively reduce production capacity. For example, Anhui Fujie Electronics announced a 20% to 60% reduction in production capacity before the price increase. This' lying flat 'production reduction behavior directly reduces the supply of thick film resistors in the market. The production has decreased and the inventory level has dropped. The inventory that was originally needed to meet one month's demand may now be shipped out in three weeks, and the delivery time will naturally start to be postponed.
Production line adjustment: profit oriented capacity redistribution
In situations of tight production capacity, manufacturers will prioritize allocating limited capacity to products with higher profits. With the strong demand for high-end applications such as AI servers, new energy vehicles, and industrial automation, high-precision, high-power, and automotive grade thick film resistors have become a hot commodity. However, conventional thick film resistors are often "cut in line" or delayed in production scheduling due to their thin profit margins. This redistribution of production capacity further exacerbates the supply shortage of ordinary specification thick film resistors.
The 'AI dividend' on the demand side
It is worth noting that although the growth of the consumer electronics market has slowed down, the construction of AI infrastructure has brought about a massive demand for passive components. The amount of thick film resistors used by AI servers is one to two times that of general-purpose servers. In addition, the demand for thick film resistors in fields such as battery management systems (BMS), charging stations, and photovoltaic inverters for new energy vehicles remains strong. The demand side has not significantly shrunk, but the supply side is contracting, and the supply-demand gap is rapidly widening, ultimately manifested as a comprehensive extension of delivery times.
The cumulative effect of panic stocking
When there are signals of price increases and delivery delays in the market, downstream customers often increase their purchase orders or even repeat orders in order to avoid the risk of supply interruption. This panic stocking behavior has brought a huge wave of orders to thick film resistor manufacturers in the short term, making the already tight production capacity even worse, and the delivery time has been further "stretched" as a result.
Summary of the Transmission Chain between Silver Price and Delivery Time
We can simplify the logic of the increase in silver prices leading to a longer lead time for thick film resistors into the following chain:
Silver prices soar → Thick film resistor costs spiral out of control → Original factory issues price increase letter → Proactively reduces production/supply to reduce losses → Market supply decreases → Overlapping pressure from AI and new energy demand → Supply and demand imbalance intensifies → Delivery time is fully extended
At present, the lead time of standard thick film resistors has been extended from 4 to 6 weeks in previous years to 8 to 12 weeks, or even longer, and this state is difficult to alleviate in the short term.
How to deal with extended delivery times? Choose a reliable supply chain partner
In such a market environment, it is no longer realistic for electronic manufacturing companies to rely solely on a single brand or wait for market price reductions. Establishing diversified supply channels and seeking local suppliers with spot reserves and technical support capabilities has become the key to ensuring production continuity.
Here, we recommend two partners who have been deeply involved in the field of passive components for many years and have strong supply capabilities: Shenzhen Shunhai Technology Co., Ltd. and Huanian Mall.
Shenzhen Shunhai Technology Co., Ltd.: Solid support for spot supply and technical support
Shenzhen Shunhai Technology Co., Ltd., as a senior component supplier in the industry, has long focused on promoting and selling passive components. In the face of the severe situation of extended lead times for thick film resistors, Shunhai Technology, with its deep supply chain resources and keen market forecasting ability, has made advance stocking arrangements.
Spot advantage: The company has established sufficient spot inventory for mainstream thick film resistor models in the market, especially for high demand packaging such as 0402, 0603, 0805, 1206, etc. This means that customers can bypass the long delivery time of the original factory and directly obtain urgently needed materials from Shunhai Technology.
Authenticity guarantee: All sources of Shunhai Technology come from the original factory or authorized channels, ensuring that every thick film resistor is an original genuine product, eliminating the risk of counterfeit goods that may occur during the shortage wave.
Technical support: The company has a professional technical team that can provide customers with alternative selection solutions. If the lead time of the thick film resistor you are looking for is too long, Shunhai Technology's technicians can help you match alternative models with similar parameters and better lead times.
Company address: 7th floor, Building B, Baoneng Technology Park, Longhua New District, Shenzhen.
Huanian Mall: A Convenient Online Procurement Platform
In order to better serve the vast number of small and medium-sized enterprises and R&D engineers, Shunhai Technology also has an online platform - Huanian Mall. This platform digitizes vast inventory data online, providing users with a more convenient purchasing experience.
Parameter filtering: On the Huanian Mall, you can quickly filter out the required thick film resistors based on parameters such as resistance, accuracy, power, and packaging, and view inventory quantities and prices in real-time.
Fast shipping: With the support of offline physical warehouses, Huanian Mall promises to provide fast shipping services for spot orders, and some models even support same day shipping, greatly reducing customer waiting time.
Comprehensive coverage: In addition to conventional thick film resistors, the mall also covers various categories such as alloy resistors, thin film resistors, and automotive grade resistors to meet the diverse needs of customers.
Conclusion
The rise in silver prices is like a stone thrown into a lake, with ripples ultimately affecting the entire supply chain of thick film resistors, leading to a comprehensive extension of delivery times. This is not only a matter of raw material costs, but also a test of supply chain resilience.
For procurement personnel and R&D engineers, understanding the logic behind this can help make more rational procurement decisions. Instead of passively waiting, it's better to take the initiative and choose partners like Shenzhen Shunhai Technology Co., Ltd. and Huanian Mall who have spot supply capabilities and professional service levels to safeguard your product research and production. In the turbulence of the electronic components market, stable supply is the greatest competitiveness.
