"Alternative Diners" at the AI banquet: These winners make their fortune by using toilets, fiberglass, and seasonings in silence.

When the market's attention is almost entirely focused on the semiconductor industry chain, a group of seemingly distant "hidden champions" whose main businesses do not seem related to high technology have quietly become big winners in the AI wave. Toto is renowned for its high-end toilets, Nittobo specializes in textiles and glass fiber, and Ajinomoto is a giant in flavoring and seasoning. So far this year, these three stocks have risen by 78%, 63%, and 61% respectivelywhat they have in common is extending their core technologies to key parts of the AI supply chain. Toto produces ceramic electrostatic chuck required for semiconductor manufacturing equipment; Nittobo supplies high-end glass fiber used in semiconductor packaging substrates; and Ajinomoto provides high-insulation "multilayer films" (ABF films) for chip packaging in high-performance computing and data center servers. In the complete fiscal year ending on March 31 this year, all three companies recorded significant growth in businesses related to semiconductor demand, fully reflecting the strong pulling effect of the AI trend. Toto: Ceramic business "holding up half the sky" Toto's advanced ceramic business has a significantly higher profit margin than its traditional residential equipment sector, mainly benefiting from the strong demand for advanced semiconductor equipment from the Internet of Things, digital transformation, artificial intelligence, and data centers. The company stated in its annual performance report that revenue and profits from its century-old residential equipment business both declined, but revenue and operating profit from the advanced ceramic business increased by 34% and 42% respectively year-on-year, almost single-handedly driving the group to achieve overall positive growth. Toto's technological accumulation in the ceramic field dates back to 1988, when it began producing electronic chucks for semiconductor manufacturing equipmentthe chucks are used to fix silicon wafers in etching processes. Toto claims that its ceramic materials can significantly improve the manufacturing yield of advanced chips. However, Toto also emphasized: "We do not believe that one sector is superior to the other. Although the advanced ceramic business is a high-growth area, we have also experienced a long period of losses in the previous 40 years of development." The company plans to balance the development of the two major business sectors to maintain overall sustainable growth, with "no plan" to deviate from the core residential equipment businesswhich provides a stable foundation for the balance sheet, while the chip industry still poses risks of cyclical fluctuations. Nittobo: Riding on AI, electronic materials become the mainstay of the business Nittobo stated that electronic materials have become its core pillar, while the company continues to expand the application market of traditional glass fiber. Its T-glass product introduced in 1984 is widely used in printed circuit boards and electronic components. The company revealed that T-glass and other electronic materials will be "important pillars of growth in the next ten years," with AI semiconductor demand changing the direction of its capital expenditures, research and development, and human resources. The performance data is more convincing: Nittobo stated that the strong demand for AI servers, combined with robust sales of "special glass," drove revenue and profit growth in the electronic materials business. The business segment's net sales for the full year increased by 20.4% year-on-year, and operating profit soared by 39.7%. According to calculations, the contribution rate of the electronic materials business to Nittobo's full-year net sales growth last year reached approximately 91%; the profits of this segment increased by 5.5 billion yen (about $34 million), surpassing even the group's overall operating profit growth of 4.4 billion yen. The company stated that glass fibers have been widely used in various fields such as plastic-reinforced composite materials, but now, "electronic materials will still be the most important business for the company for a long time to come." Nittobo predicted in the performance report that "the demand for special glass used in electronic materialsespecially for data center servers, network equipment, and semiconductor packaging substrateswill continue to be strong, and the company will actively strengthen its capacity expansion measures to meet the demand." Despite the semiconductor business becoming more of a profit engine, Nittobo is also expanding the use of traditional glass fiber in new applications in composite materials and industrial materials. Ajinomoto: ABF film "unexpectedly" becomes a growth dark horse Although the food business is still Ajinomoto's main direction, its products have found an unexpected use in the semiconductor fieldthe produced ABF insulation film has become a key material for high-performance chip packaging. According to Ajinomoto's official website, by-products of the MSG manufacturing process have helped the company develop related technologies and ultimately led to the birth of ABF. The product was introduced in 1999 and is now widely used in high-performance semiconductors such as CPUs. Ajinomoto pointed out that as semiconductor packaging becomes increasingly complex, the importance of ABF is becoming more prominent; and cutting-edge technologies such as AI and 5G will continue to drive semiconductor demand growth. Although Ajinomoto did not list ABF as a separate business division, in the full-year performance, the "Healthcare and Others" segment (including ABF) saw a revenue increase of about 4% year-on-year, with a significant increase of 45.1% in operating profit, partly due to the increase in electronic materials income. This segment contributed more than one-third of the group's annual profit and has already exceeded its frozen food business in both revenue and profit indicators. The company stated: "We anticipate that high-value-added and cutting-edge areas centered around ABF products will continue to grow." Ajinomoto stated that its goal is to achieve a "1:1 balance" between the food business and the "amino science" business, with ABF being an important growth engine for the latter.