Fujifilm to expand LTO tape production fivefold amid storage demand
Fujifilm plans to increase production capacity for Linear Tape-Open (LTO) products fivefold, investing ¥10 billion (about $64 million) over two years to expand its Odawara plant in Japan. The move reflects confidence that growing demand for AI and cloud data storage will support tape, despite lower cartridge shipments in 2025.
Buyers purchased 160.3 exabytes of LTO capacity in 2025, down from a record 176.5 exabytes in 2024; the LTO Program cited difficult economic conditions but said sales strengthened in the second half and forecast a record in 2026. Fujifilm will expand production of LTO-10 cartridges, which hold 30TB or 40TB natively and transfer data at 400 MB/s. Future generations are planned to reach 70TB with LTO-11, expected around 2029, and 365TB with LTO-14.
In short
- Fujifilm plans a fivefold increase in LTO production capacity.
- It will invest ¥10 billion in its Odawara plant over two years.
- LTO shipments fell in 2025, but the programme forecasts a record in 2026.
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The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Fujifilm’s investment could help meet the rapidly growing storage needs of AI and cloud services, while tape offers high capacity and a way to preserve data at scale. Expanding production ahead of an expected recovery may strengthen supply and support future LTO generations.
The case against
The case for caution is that cartridge shipments fell in 2025, despite a forecast rebound, so a fivefold capacity increase risks running ahead of proven demand. A large, long-term investment may also be less attractive if customers’ storage needs or preferred technologies change before the new capacity is fully used.
Explained simply
LTO is a standard for magnetic tape cartridges used to store large amounts of data. Organisations such as cloud providers and research centres use tape to keep information they may not need to access immediately, alongside other storage systems.
Fujifilm is one of the companies that makes LTO cartridges, and it plans to expand production at its plant in Odawara, Japan. The LTO Program, which tracks the format’s shipments, reported that buyers purchased less capacity in 2025 than in the record year before.
Demand for AI and cloud services is increasing the amount of data organisations need to store. Tape is one option for meeting that need, and the investment reflects Fujifilm’s expectation that demand will grow even as shipments have recently fallen.
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Originally published by The Register as “Tape is so not dead that Fujifilm will increase production capacity 5x”.