November 7, 2023 - Although DNA sequencing is significantly cheaper than synthesis, Grass stresses that “it is more expensive to sequence DNA than to read files from a memory stick or a hard drive.” It limits its applicability for use cases that require frequent data retrieval, such as in data centers.

By combining molecular stability with modular, data center-compatible system architecture, it enables a new storage tier optimized for extreme density, long-term readability, and structural energy efficiency.

June 1, 2026 - Biological data centers won’t arrive all at once. DNA storage will likely commercialize first for cold archives; biocomputing remains a research frontier with enormous promise.

Nature made DNA to store information. Micron wants to harness the power of digital data storage in DNA for super-dense, long-lasting, sustainable computer memory.

The DNA storage concept for data centers is based on the latest developments in synthetic DNA, where digital data is converted into DNA sequences through a process of chemical synthesis. Sequences can then be read and decoded using advanced sequencing techniques.

August 21, 2025 - Instead, they used DNA—the building block of all life—to encode the information in these creative works and store it at a microscopic scale. As humans adopt advanced tools like artificial intelligence, tomorrow’s currency will be data. Already, tech giants like Microsoft are raising billions of dollars to construct data centers ...

GCN - Data centers are booming right now, gearing up to handle compute, network and storage needs for a more connected world. But they already have large footprints, and as the collection of data continues to accelerate, those facilities will have to expand as well.

September 22, 2020 - In March of 2019, researchers at Microsoft and the University of Washington announced that they had developed the first fully automated system to store and retrieve data in synthetic DNA (eliminating the need for laboratory technicians)—a key step in moving the technology out of the research laboratory and into commercial data centers.

July 18, 2026 - These bases are used to synthesize new DNA on an existing template. A sequencer, which reads and converts the DNA back into digital data, retrieves the information. That high density—coffee cup versus massive data center—is a big advantage over traditional storage.

November 8, 2022 - As we learned in high school biology, all genetic material rests on a similarly simple code: A-C-T-G, the four bases that make up DNA. By assigning a series of 0s and 1s to each of these four letters, scientists can convert any digitally-stored data into DNA. Unlike servers in data centers, DNA-based storage methods are environmentally friendly.

December 23, 2022 - The DNA Storage project enables molecular-level data storage into DNA molecules by leveraging biotechnology advances to develop archival storage.

May 9, 2023 - Data centers are large facilities that comprise numerous data servers. They cover a huge land mass and constantly consume large amounts of electricity. The study authors claim that DNA can reduce both the land and power usage required to store data.

February 20, 2024 - The magnetic or optical data-storage systems that currently hold this volume of 0s and 1s typically cannot last for more than a century, if that. Further, running data centers takes huge amounts of energy. In short, we are about to have a serious data-storage problem that will only become more severe over time. An alternative to hard drives is progressing: DNA-based data storage.

January 10, 2023 - Due to all these factors, DNA as a storage medium comes with substantial TCO and environmental benefits. Instead of building more and more sprawling 100-megawatt data centers, data could be stored using almost no energy in a tiny, compact capsule.

March 6, 2026 - French DNA storage champion Biomemory has said that it is on track to deploy its technology in datacenters later this year after snapping up assets from Boston-based bio computing specialist Catalog Technologies.

February 20, 2024 - By comparison, DNA storage is potentially less expensive, more energy-efficient and longer lasting. Studies show that DNA properly encapsulated with a salt remains stable for decades at room temperature and should last much longer in the controlled environs of a data center.

August 17, 2026 - In March 2017, Yaniv Erlich and Dina Zielinski of Columbia University and the New York Genome Center published a method known as DNA Fountain that stored data at a density of 215 petabytes per gram of DNA. The technique approaches the Shannon capacity of DNA storage, achieving 85% of the ...

May 4, 2023 - Storing data in DNA sounds like science fiction, yet it lies in the near future. Professor Tom de Greef expects the first DNA data center to be up and running within five to ten years. Data won’t be stored as zeros and ones in a hard drive but in the base pairs that make up DNA: AT and CG.

June 4, 2016 - Researchers from the University of Washington and Microsoft Research have developed one of the first complete systems to encode, store and retrieve digital data using DNA molecules, capable of storing information millions of times more compactly ...

March 5, 2024 - DNA storage is not going to replace traditional data centers, especially as that data is required quickly. But eventually it might enable archival data to be stored in greener, more compact data centers, which produce minimal waste and carbon ...