Fujifilm to boost tape production 5x as AI fuels archiving demand

What happened

Fujifilm announced Thursday that it will invest roughly 10 billion yen (about $63 million) to increase magnetic tape production capacity fivefold compared with fiscal year 2025 levels, citing archiving demand driven by generative AI. The expansion at its Kanagawa Factory, Odawara site will run from fiscal years 2026 through 2028, primarily supporting FUJIFILM LTO Ultrium10 production. Fujifilm says cloud and data center operators value tape’s relatively low storage costs and ability to be disconnected for protection against ransomware.

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The story so far

Fujifilm announced plans to invest roughly 10 billion yen (about $63 million) to increase magnetic tape production capacity at its Kanagawa Factory’s Odawara site to five times its fiscal year 2025 level. The expansion will run from fiscal years 2026 through 2028, funding manufacturing expansion and additional personnel, primarily for FUJIFILM LTO Ultrium10 tape production. Fujifilm cited archiving demand driven by generative AI as the reason for the investment. The company said cloud and data center operators value tape’s relatively low storage costs and its ability to be disconnected to protect stored data against ransomware.