From MSG to microchips

The lesser-known side hustles of Japanese legacy brands

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TOKYO - Think of Ajinomoto and, chances are, what springs to mind is the Japanese maker of sauces and umami seasonings.

Yet, the company's products are not confined to just kitchen shelves. Ajinomoto is also omnipresent in the technology sector, embedded in semiconductors and the motherboards that power high-performance central processing units for computers and data centres worldwide.

Quietly, since the initial adoption in the 1990s of what is known simply in the industry as ABF (Ajinomoto Build-Up Film), Ajinomoto has become the undisputed world leader in nano-thin films critical for electrical insulation and processing capabilities.

It is now poised to ride the technological crest amid booming demand for chips in an artificial intelligence (AI) age - even as sauces and seasonings remain its core business and primary revenue driver.

While the company does not report specific earnings for ABF, which is categorised under "healthcare and others", the segment is witnessing sharp growth. Business profits for this division are forecast to reach 62.6 billion yen (S$515 million) for the financial year ending March 2026, a 37.3 per cent surge from a year ago.

Such is the counterintuitive world of Japanese corporate diversification. On paper, such side hustles seem diametrically at odds with the brand identity.

Yet this could not be further from the truth. Many of these legacy companies are leveraging their deep, core expertise - often in materials science or precision engineering - to evolve and find new uses for their proprietary technology.

In doing so, they have come to dominate critical global niches far removed from their consumer brands.