Fujifilm’s magnetic tape investment will put 10 billion yen into expanding production at its Odawara facility near Tokyo, with a target to quintuple output by 2028 . Much of the spending will support advanced storage media with capacities of up to 100 TB for data centers and organizations holding large volumes of information.
Key takeaways
Fujifilm’s expansion targets its Odawara plant near Tokyo.
Advanced tapes will offer capacities reaching 100 TB.
Tape storage can cost one-quarter as much as HDD storage.
IDC forecasts global data generation could reach 718 zettabytes in 2030.
Fujifilm’s magnetic tape investment targets higher output
The spending at Odawara is scheduled through fiscal year 2028 and amounts to about $63.3 million . It is Fujifilm’s largest investment in magnetic tape production in roughly twenty years.
Most of the resources will go toward increasing production of advanced media. The stated customers include data centers and other organizations that need to retain substantial amounts of information.
100 TB tapes and the cost comparison with hard drives
The advanced magnetic tapes will have capacities of up to 100 TB . Storage on tape can cost as little as one-quarter of HDD storage , giving the medium a distinct price position alongside other storage technologies .
SSDs offer high reading and writing speeds. Hard disks, meanwhile, can hold large volumes of data at generally lower costs than SSDs. Those differences put capacity, speed and price at the center of the comparison between storage media.
Fujifilm’s magnetic tape investment focuses on the high-capacity end of that market. Tape already has a role in backup systems and professional archiving, with users including data center operators, financial institutions and research organizations.
IDC projects 718 zettabytes of global data
IDC projects that the volume of data generated globally could reach 718 zettabytes by 2030 . That would be four times the level recorded in 2024.
One zettabyte equals one billion terabytes. IDC’s forecast concerns global data generation ; Fujifilm’s production target is to increase magnetic tape output fivefold by 2028.
Article produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence and reviewed by the editorial team.
