Toto is raising capital expenditures on its chip-related operations to more than half of its total spending as AI fuels demand for semiconductor materials, company officials said today [1, 2]. The surge in AI applications has boosted orders for Toto's ceramics products such as electrostatic chucks used in chip fabrication processes [1, 2].
The company’s advanced ceramics division, established in 1984, manufactures electrostatic chucks, aerosol deposition parts, and LCD structural components [2]. In 2026, the division posted a 34% profit increase year-on-year, making up 55% of Toto’s total operating profit of 53.8 billion yen ($343.5 million) so far this year [2]. Toto is currently the world’s second-largest producer of electrostatic chucks used in NAND memory chip manufacturing [2].
Ryosuke Hayashi, Toto’s Chief Technology Officer, said the company now can "respond to demand properly" as production scales up [1].
Toto plans to invest an additional 30 billion yen (approximately $192 million) in the next fiscal year to expand mass production capacities and research and development for its chip-related ceramics products [2]. The ceramics division is expected to grow by 27% in profits next year on the back of demand from semiconductor chip makers [2].
Other Japanese companies like Kao and Ajinomoto are also benefiting from AI-driven semiconductor demand by supplying related materials [2].
The planned investments will help Toto expand production sites and accelerate R&D to meet the rising needs of the AI chip market, with spending over half of the company’s total capital expenditure allocated to these operations starting now and continuing through the coming fiscal year [2].
