In the 1970s, a million-year-old mammoth tooth was found in Siberia. In 2021, it turned out its DNA could still be sequenced.
Meanwhile, most hard drives have a lifespan of three to five years.
Clearly, nature is on to something when it comes to efficient and durable data storage.
Strategic partnership
DNA-based storage has long been discussed as a solution to the problem of exponentially growing data volumes and the limited longevity of traditional storage media. But a number of challenges impeded its realization: slow write speeds, high costs, and difficulties in scaling the underlying chemistry and electronics.
Now, Atlas Data Storage aims to bring DNA-based digital storage from vision to reality, using synthetic DNA. To this end, it partnered with imec to co-develop and monolithically manufacture a custom nanoscale array of electrochemical cells on top of a CMOS control ASIC.
Reliable supply chain
While the ASIC is designed by Atlas Data Storage, IC-Link is responsible for its supply chain. It delivers the wafers that are then post-processed in imec’s 300mm cleanroom.
Access to reliable manufacturing goes hand in hand with cutting-edge innovation, resulting in a solution that could help us ride the data tsunami of the AI age.
Read the full imec press release
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Published on:
9 March 2026
