, Columnist
Beyond Bidets Lies the Overlooked Plumbing of AI
More than a toilet maker.
Photo: Yuichi Yamazaki/AFP/Getty Images
A Japanese maker of high-tech toilets has been causing a splash in the world of artificial intelligence.
Activist investor Palliser Capital recently called on the management of Toto Ltd., best known for its Washlet bidets, to do more to highlight that the firm is a growing AI play, thanks to its advanced ceramics segments. Toto is the “most undervalued and overlooked AI memory beneficiary,” Palliser wrote. Its little-known chips parts business recently accounted for half of its operating profit. Yet just a page was dedicated to it in the most recent investor presentation, with the limited disclosure leaving its value “effectively hidden from the market,” the fund said.