Fujifilm plans to invest approximately 10 billion yen in its Kanagawa plant, located in Odawara. The goal is to increase production capacity for tape storage (LTO) by a factor of approximately five. This investment is a response to the growing demand for data archiving associated with the rise of generative AI.
The investment will be made during the fiscal years 2026 through 2028. The funds will be used to expand production facilities and increase the workforce. The investment is noteworthy, according to The Register. While 176.5 exabytes worth of LTO cartridges were sold in 2024, that volume dropped to 160.3 exabytes in 2025. This represents a decline of more than 9 percent. However, the market rebounded in the second half of last year. A record is expected this year.
The rapid proliferation of generative AI and cloud services is driving growth in the amount of data generated worldwide. As a result, there is a growing need for systems in which data for AI training and inference, as well as information from digitized business processes, can be stored securely and efficiently. Tape can store large amounts of data for long periods at low cost. Furthermore, it can be physically isolated from networks.
Tape protects against ransomware
Large cloud service providers and data center operators, in particular, are increasingly turning to tape storage. Furthermore, given the growing complexity of cyberattacks, tape is gaining more attention as a means of protecting data against threats such as ransomware.
Fujifilm began researching tape in the 1950s. Since the introduction of the Fujifilm LTO Ultrium 1 for data storage in 2000, Fujifilm has worked to improve tape performance. The company achieved this by utilizing its proprietary material technologies and precision coating technologies. In 2011, Fujifilm was the first company in the world to commercialize barium ferrite (BaFe) magnetic particles for use in tape.
With the announced investment, Fujifilm will expand its production facilities, primarily for the latest generation of Fujifilm LTO Ultrium 10 data storage cartridges. The Register reports that the latest generation of LTO cartridges has an uncompressed storage capacity of 30 or 40 TB. The transfer rate is 400 MB/s.
It is worth noting that LTO-10 drives can read only LTO-10 cartridges. With previous generations, it was possible to use older cartridges as well. For organizations with large tape archives, this could have implications for their migration strategy.