Tape is so not dead that Fujifilm will increase production capacity 5x
The Register, Thursday, October 29th, 2026
Fujifilm will spend 10 billion yen to expand an Odawara tape plant and raise LTO production capacity fivefold, citing AI-driven demand.
Fujifilm plans to spend about 10 billion yen ($64 million) over two years to expand its Odawara plant and boost LTO tape production by five times.
It says generative AI and cloud services are driving data growth.
LTO is the last non-proprietary tape format, backed by HPE, IBM and Quantum.
LTO shipments fell in 2025 to 160.3 exabytes from a record 176.5 exabytes in 2024, which the LTO Program blamed on macro-economic conditions while noting a strong second half and predicting record sales in 2026.