Kiwoom Investment Asset Management is preparing Korea's first exchange-traded fund built around multilayer ceramic capacitors, or MLCCs. The move follows a string of MLCC-related ETF launches in the United States over the past month and signals that AI investing in Korea is broadening beyond graphics processing units and high-bandwidth memory into power and packaging components.
Kiwoom Investment Asset Management has completed ticker registration for the KIWOOM Global MLCC & AI Substrate TOP4+ ETF and is preparing to list it, according to financial investment industry sources on the 22nd. No ETF currently listed in Korea uses MLCCs as a standalone investment theme, making this the first of its kind once it debuts. Trading could begin as early as next month.
The ETF will invest in global MLCC makers, including Samsung Electro-Mechanics (009150.KS) and Japan's Murata Manufacturing, as well as companies that produce semiconductor substrates for AI servers. Its holdings will also include Japanese component suppliers such as Taiyo Yuden and TDK, along with Korean substrate-related firms including LG Innotek (011070.KS), Doosan (000150.KS), Isu Petasys (007660.KS), Daeduck Electronics (353200.KS) and Simmtech (222800.KS). By pairing MLCCs with flip-chip ball grid array, or FC-BGA, substrates, the fund targets both ends of the component supply chain that AI servers rely on for power stability and data processing.
Behind the launch is the rising power consumption of AI servers. MLCCs sit near semiconductors and reduce voltage fluctuations and electrical noise. As GPU performance improves, more current must be supplied reliably, increasing the number of high-capacity MLCCs installed. Products for AI servers are harder to manufacture than standard components and consume more production capacity, making it difficult for supply to keep pace with rising demand.
In the high-end MLCC market in particular, a small number of players such as Murata and Samsung Electro-Mechanics hold outsized influence. With demand also growing for FC-BGA, the package substrate used in AI accelerators, analysts say the benefits of AI investment are spreading from chips to power-stabilization and substrate components. In the United States, four related ETFs — PSOX, CAPA, CCML and MLCC — have listed in succession since August. Kiwoom's product is seen as reflecting that trend by bundling MLCCs and AI substrates into a single investment theme.
"Many asset managers at home and abroad are moving quickly to turn emerging segments of the AI value chain into products," said Kim Jin-young, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities (039490.KS). "Recently, the physical constraints in building out infrastructure — memory, networking, power, cooling and MLCCs — have been emerging as new investment targets."
