Magnetic tape storage is seeing a second lease of life thanks to AI — and now its largest manufacturer is planning a huge ramp-up in production
- Fujifilm plans to multiply magnetic tape production fivefold by fiscal 2028
- The company is committing ¥10 billion ($63.3 million) to its Odawara plant expansion
- Offline tape copies can reduce exposure to remote cyberattacks on networked systems
Fujifilm has revealed plans to increase its magnetic tape production capacity fivefold by fiscal 2028 in response to rising data storage demands driven by AI.
The Japanese company has allocated ¥10 billion ($63.3 million) to expand its Odawara plant near Tokyo, marking its largest investment in tape production for approximately 20 years.
The project will concentrate on advanced cartridges capable of retaining up to 100TB, although Fujifilm has not disclosed its expected annual output following expansion.
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Magnetic tape finds renewed purpose as AI data volumes surge
Magnetic tape remains commercially useful because organisations can store enormous quantities of information without keeping the medium continuously connected to computer networks.
Data centres, financial institutions and research organisations use it to preserve backups, particularly when information must remain available for years rather than immediate retrieval.
The technology dates back decades, with Fujifilm beginning development in 1954 for television broadcasting equipment before expanding into audio and video recording applications.
A 2026 IDC survey found that 94.7% of organisations reported storing larger volumes of information after adopting artificial intelligence technologies across their operations.
It also estimates that global data generation could reach 718 zettabytes by 2030, approximately four times the 2024 volume.
Each zettabyte represents one billion terabytes, indicating the scale of storage capacity potentially required as digital activity expands.
Magnetic tape can help accommodate this growth by providing a relatively inexpensive way to retain large volumes of data offline for extended periods, without occupying costly high-speed storage.
Tape also offers protection against certain cybersecurity incidents because stored cartridges can remain disconnected from operational systems.
Keeping copies offline can reduce their exposure to remote attacks, although physical damage, mishandling and other risks remain possible.
Rising drive prices improve magnetic tape’s cost advantage
The economics of competing storage technologies have strengthened tape’s appeal as semiconductor shortages push up SSD prices and data centre demand increases pressure on hard-disk drive supplies.
According to Fujifilm’s analysis with Brad Johns Consulting, tape storage costs about 1 cent per GB, compared with 3–3.5 cents per GB for raw HDD storage.
This implies that storing 100 TB of data on magnetic tape costs approximately $1,000, compared with $3,000 to $3,500 using HDDs, potential savings of about 67–71%.
Japanese companies are now investing across several storage technologies, suggesting that they expect continued demand for different capacities, speed, and cost.
Kioxia plans to invest ¥5 trillion (~$37 billion) alongside American partner Sandisk over six years, to expand semiconductor memory production.
Toshiba intends to spend approximately ¥60 billion (~$380 million) enlarging its Philippine hard-drive factory, to double manufacturing capacity.
Hoya plans a ¥50 billion (~$317 million) investment in Vietnam for glass substrates used in hard drives, while NHK Spring has outlined an additional ¥35 billion (~$222 million) in production spending.
These investments indicate that magnetic tape’s renewed appeal coincides with expansion elsewhere in the storage market, rather than a retreat from SSDs or HDDs.
Via Nikkei Asia
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