Despite a setback in LTO cartridge shipments during 2025, Fujifilm is betting on a strong rebound in tape storage demand and plans a fivefold increase in its production capacity. The company is investing ¥10 billion ($64 million) over two years to expand its tape manufacturing plant in Odawara, Japa
Despite a setback in LTO cartridge shipments during 2025, Fujifilm is betting on a strong rebound in tape storage demand and plans a fivefold increase in its production capacity. The company is investing ¥10 billion ($64 million) over two years to expand its tape manufacturing plant in Odawara, Japan, citing the rapid growth in data generated by AI and cloud services as key drivers for the move.
Winners and Those Under Pressure in the Tape Storage Market
- Fujifilm gains: investing heavily to expand LTO tape production capacity fivefold.
- LTO Program consortium (HPE, IBM, Quantum Corp) gains: supporting future tape generations with planned storage capacity increases up to 365TB per cartridge.
- Data storage users who rely on offline or nearline archives gain: more tape options for large-scale, cost-effective data archival.
- Market faces pressure: 2025 sales declined against 2024, illustrating short-term challenges amid macro-economic conditions.
Fujifilm’s confidence in the tape market aligns with forecasts of record LTO sales in 2026, despite the recent dip. The firm points to AI-driven data growth and digitalization as foundational trends boosting storage needs. With LTO format evolving to deliver increasingly large capacities every four years, tape remains relevant as a secure, high-volume archival medium. The extended timeline and consistent upgrades look to maintain tape’s role in global data storage, even as access speed limitations persist.
Source: The Register
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