Meet The Japanese Company Quietly Powering The AI Data Center Boom

As hyperscalers turn to light to transmit high volumes of data, optical testing firm Santec Holdings, led by president and CEO Mototaka Tei, is reaping a windfall. This story is part of Forbes Asia’s coverage of Best Under A Billion list, which highlights 200 Asia-Pacific public companies with less than $1 billion in revenue and consistent top- and bottom-line growth. See the full list, sorted alphabetically, here. Five years ago, Mototaka Tei was poised to make a leap. The president and CEO of Santec Holdings, a Japanese maker of optical testing equipment used in industries as varied as AI data centers and medical imaging, had agreed to pay ¥1.9 billion (equivalent to $17 million at the time) to acquire two North American companies specializing in testing fiber-optic cables. Due to Covid-19 lockdowns, Tei couldn’t travel to seal the deals in person. “That was the biggest risk I’ve taken,” says the 62-year-old, recalling his nervousness about conducting due diligence remotely for Santec’s first-ever acquisitions in its more-than-40-year history. In today’s…