Toilet Giant Toto Could Be Key to Flushing the RAM Shortage

by Aaron Leong — Friday, May 01, 2026, 11:13 AM EDT

Toto, the Japanese company best known for its heated bidet toilets, is suddenly looking less like a bathroom brand and more like an unlikely beneficiary of the global RAM shortage. In a year when memory has become scarce, expensive, and generally annoying to anyone trying to buy a computer, the company has a semiconductor materials business that is riding a surge in demand tied to memory-chip production.

We doubt that business school case studies will look back on this crisis and say, “And then the toilet people saved the day,” but then again, here we are. Apparently, Toto’s advanced ceramics division makes components used in NAND memory chips, including electrostatic chucks that help hold wafers steady during manufacturing. As AI data centers expand, demand for memory chips has tightened, and that has quietly boosted Toto’s industrial side.

Toto's ceramics business grew 34% year-over-year and accounted for 55% of Toto’s 53.8 billion yen, or about $343.5 million, in operating profit so far this year. The company expects the division to keep expanding, with roughly 27% growth projected next year. Moreover, the company says it will invest another 30 billion yen (about $192 million) over the next fiscal year to increase mass production and strengthen R&D.

e chucks1 — *Electrostatic chucks made by Toto*

For perspective, Toto is currently the world’s second-largest producer of electrostatic chucks (e-chucks) for NAND memory production. Stock markets have also taken notice. In January, Toto shares jumped as much as 11% after analysts highlighted the company’s chip-related prospects, calling out the potential for significant profit growth from the business. Investors who once would have lumped Toto in with slow-moving consumer and housing equipment firms are now being forced to look at it through a much more industrial, and much more semiconductor-shaped, lens.

In reality, Toto's increased contribution to memory production won't necessarily drive memory and gadget prices down, but who knows? For the company, the irony is almost too perfect, however. As the world runs short of memory, Toto remembers where the money is.

Those Toto head honchos are probably laughing it up while on their porcelain thrones right now.