From toilets, textiles, and MSG to AI semiconductor chips

Sounds like a dad joke, but some of the biggest winners of the AI boom are better known for making toilets, MSG, and textiles.

Three Japanese companies — high-end toilet maker Toto, MSG seasoning producer Ajinomoto, and textile manufacturer Nittobo — produce components critical to semiconductor manufacturing.

All three companies, each over a century old, reported dramatic growth in fiscal year 2025 due to semiconductor demand, per CNBC.

Flush with cash

Founded in 1917, Toto is probably best known for its luxurious porcelain thrones. In the 1980s, the company utilized its ceramics expertise to develop electrostatic chucks for Japan's burgeoning semiconductor industry.

About the size of a pizza, ceramic chucks use electrostatic force to hold silicon wafers in place during the chip production.

While Toto's chucks didn't initially make headlines, they've proved incredibly useful for advanced chips. The company's advanced ceramics division is seeing tremendous success:

• 42% jump in operating profit to ~$181m
• Shares are up ~48% so far this year

But Toto doesn't plan to get off the pot, instead aiming to sustainably grow both segments.

Boosting flavor and profits

Ajinomoto has been in the flavor business since 1909, having identified umami and invented monosodium glutamate (MSG) seasoning — falsely demonized for decades.

In the 1970s, Ajinomoto found that an MSG byproduct could be used to create a thin insulation film for microprocessors.

Ajinomoto's build-up film (ABF) now dominates 95% of the market and nearly every high-performance semiconductor relies on it. The AI boom has boosted Ajinomoto's bottom line:

• 45.1% YoY profit increase
• The company's "Healthcare and Others" segment, which includes ABF, accounts for one-third of the company's profit, surpassing frozen food

The company plans to expand production capacity but not hike prices.

From spinning silk to glass fibers

Nittobo, a 103-year-old company that began spinning silk and cotton, developed glass fiber by weaving together ultrathin glass fibers like fabric.

The company's special T-glass is essential for AI chips, servers, and smartphones. As Nittobo controls roughly 90% of the high-end glass fabric market, the company's electronic materials sector has seen dramatic success:

• 20.4% YoY increase in net sales 
• 39.7% increase in operating profit
• Net sales rose by $34m

Despite increasing demand for T-glass, Nittobo also plans to grow sustainably, while expanding other segments.

Thank us later when these tidbits prove useful at trivia night.