Fujifilm to begin shipping 40TB Ultrium tape cartridges in January 2026 — updated LTO Ultrium 10 archival storage can hold 100TB of compressed data in 0.8-inch thick cartridge

Fujifilm has confirmed that its new LTO Ultrium 10 data cartridges with 40TB native capacity will begin shipping in January 2026, turning the highest-capacity tier of the LTO-10 generation into a commercially available product. The cartridges offer up to 100TB of capacity with compression and are designed to operate in the same LTO-10 drives already deployed for earlier 30TB media.

The launch adds a second capacity point within the LTO-10 generation, something that is unusual for LTO, which historically advances capacity only when a new drive generation arrives. In this case, Fujifilm is launching the 40TB cartridge as an “advanced iteration” of the 30TB cartridge instead of a straight-up replacement for it, giving customers a choice between 30TB and 40TB based on cost and storage density factors.

According to the company’s announcement, the increase in capacity comes from changes to the tape itself rather than the cartridge format or drive. Fujifilm says it has refined its fine hybrid magnetic particle formulation while also adopting a thinner base film made from aramid material. Together, these changes allow a 30% increase in tape length to be packed into the same physical cartridge without compromising durability or reliability.

The external dimensions of the cartridge remain unchanged, preserving compatibility with existing drives. Organizations that have already invested in LTO-10 hardware can increase total library capacity simply by introducing the higher-density media rather than having to struggle with new read and write heads or backward compatibility constraints.

Another practical change is a wider recommended operating range compared with earlier LTO-10 media. Fujifilm states that the new cartridges are validated for broader temperature and humidity ranges, which may be relevant for long-term archive deployments that operate outside tightly controlled data center environments; tape remains a common choice for cold storage because of its low idle power draw and long shelf life.

LTO-10 was formally unveiled in June 2025 with a maximum roadmap capacity of 40TB native, but until now, that top-end figure only existed in theory. While Fujifilm has not disclosed any information about pricing, it’s not typically the pricing of the tapes that is the issue for non-enterprise users, but the $10,000-plus price tag for the drives that are required to read and write them.

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