GoKawiilFujifilm to invest $63 million to quintuple LTO tape production capacity
Fujifilm announced a roughly 10 billion yen ($63 million) investment at its Kanagawa Factory in Odawara to expand magnetic tape manufacturing capacity fivefold compared to fiscal 2025 levels. The project, running from fiscal 2026 through 2028, will fund new facilities, equipment and staff focused primarily on producing the latest LTO Ultrium10 tape cartridges, and is described as Fujifilm's largest-ever investment in dedicated LTO tape facilities.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
Fujifilm attributes the expansion to rising data archiving needs driven by generative AI, suggesting cloud and data center operators are turning to tape as a cheaper, air-gapped way to store growing volumes of data. The company also points to tape's resilience against ransomware since cartridges can be physically disconnected and stored offline, which could make tape increasingly attractive as a last line of defense against cyberattacks. This signals that even as AI drives demand for cutting-edge compute, it is also reviving interest in decades-old storage technology.
- Fujifilm plans a 5x increase in LTO tape production capacity versus fiscal 2025 levels.
- The $63 million investment targets the Odawara site and spans fiscal years 2026-2028.
- Fujifilm links the demand surge to AI-driven data growth and tape's ransomware-resistant, air-gapped storage advantages.
Fujifilm LTO Ultrium9 Data Cartridge — If you're intrigued by the tape-archiving boom driven by AI data growth, you can actually use the same LTO technology for your own cold storage backups. These cartridges offer huge offline capacity and are easy to store away from your network, just like the enterprise setups described in the article.
See Fujifilm LTO Ultrium9 Data Cartridge on Amazon → Affiliate link — we may earn a commission on purchases, at no extra cost to you. Product picked by AI based on this article; it is not a tested recommendation.Source: hardware.slashdot.org, 2026-11-03
Published there as: “Fujifilm To Boost Tape Production 5x As AI Fuels Archiving Demand”
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