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

Fujifilm is investing 10 billion yen ($63 million) to increase its magnetic tape production capacity fivefold at its Kanagawa Factory, Odawara site, due to the growing demand for archiving data driven by generative AI. The investment will fund manufacturing expansion and additional personnel to produce the latest-generation 'FUJIFILM LTO Ultrium10' tape. Fujifilm's magnetic tape production dates back to the 1950s, and the company has been innovating the technology, releasing the first LTO Ultrium storage tape in 2000 and the LTO Ultrium10 in 2025, which uses fine hybrid magnetic particles. Major cloud service and data center operators are expanding their use of magnetic tape due to its low cost and offline security, which allows for air-gapped data storage and protection against cyberattacks.