Why Japanese companies do so many different things

Toto, best known as a global toilet and bidet manufacturer, has seen its stock surge 60% this year driven primarily by explosive demand for electrostatic chucks—precision ceramic components used in semiconductor manufacturing for AI chips—rather than its traditional bathroom fixture business. Since 1988, Toto's advanced ceramics division has quietly become its largest profit generator as AI demand skyrockets, prompting the company to invest hundreds of millions in expanded production. This pattern of Japanese conglomerates diversifying into seemingly unrelated industries is characteristic of major Japanese corporations like Kyocera and Sumitomo Osaka Cement.