Fujifilm will invest about 10 billion yen (approximately $63 million) to increase its magnetic-tape production capacity fivefold, citing surging data-archiving demand linked to generative AI. The expansion at the company’s Odawara site in Kanagawa is planned for fiscal years 2026 through 2028 and will support production of the latest FUJIFILM LTO Ultrium 10 tapes.
Fujifilm expands LTO tape production
In an announcement released Thursday, Fujifilm said the fivefold increase will be measured against its fiscal 2025 production levels. The project is the company’s “largest investment to date in dedicated LTO tape equipment,” with funding focused mainly on manufacturing expansion and additional personnel.
Fujifilm attributes the growing need for long-term data storage to the worldwide proliferation of generative AI, which it says is “exponentially increasing” data requirements. Although tape disappeared from most consumer technology decades ago, businesses and cloud providers continue to use it to back up and archive large volumes of information.
Magnetic tape has evolved for data centers
Fujifilm’s work with magnetic tape as a data-storage medium dates back to the 1950s. The company released its first LTO Ultrium storage tape in 2000 and began commercial production of tape using barium ferrite magnetic particles in 2011.
In 2025, Fujifilm introduced LTO Ultrium 10, the first storage solution for media using what the company calls “fine hybrid magnetic particles.” The technology combines barium ferrite and strontium ferrite. Each LTO generation has increased both compressed and uncompressed storage capacity; the 10th generation is currently the latest.
Credit: LTO.org
Air-gapped backups help protect data
According to Fujifilm, “major cloud service and data center operators” are increasing their use of magnetic tape because it can hold large amounts of data at relatively low cost. Tape cartridges can also be removed from a system and stored in a drawer, vault, or separate facility.
Fujifilm highlights this physical separation, or air gap, as a final defense for stored data. “Given the increasing sophistication of cyber-attacks, magnetic tape is increasingly attracting attention as a means to protect data from threats such as ransomware,” the company said.
Source: arstechnica.com