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IT Home reported on July 14 that Lithuanian genetic technology company Genomika, together with partners such as the Ultrasonic Research Institute of Kaunas University of Technology (KTU URI), is promoting a project called "DNA Micro Data Autonomous Archiving Factory" (DINAMIC), with the goal of developing a new data storage device with DNA as the storage medium within three years. According to a news release from Kaunas University of Technology, the world is seeking "reliable, high-density, sustainable and affordable data storage solutions."

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The DINAMIC project received funding from the European Commission Innovation Commission (EIC) Pioneer Program, which aims to help companies develop disruptive new technologies. Ignas Galminas, one of the founders of Genomika, said that DNA storage can not only solve the space problem, but also reduce the amount of water used for cooling data centers, reduce the demand for rare earth metals used to manufacture solid-state drives (SSDs), and improve the reliability and long-term preservation of data archiving.

In 2023,The total amount of data in the world has reached an astonishing 120ZB (IT Home Note: Zettabyte, equivalent to 1.2 billion TB), enough to fill 150 million 8TB M.2 NVMe SSDs. As AI data processing grows exponentially, this number is expected to grow by more than 20% per year. This means we urgently need to find a way to store all this data long-term without turning the entire planet into a giant data center.

“In a globally digital society, more and more data is generated and used every year,” said Professor Renaldas Raišutis, Director of KTU URI.Traditional storage centers consume 1.5% of the world’s electricity and emit 200 million tons of carbon dioxide per year。”

The DINAMIC project is looking to DNA, the biological molecule that contains life's genetic instructions, to solve the data storage problem. The project aims to build a new type of storage drive that uses the four bases of DNA (C, G, A, T) instead of the existing 0s and 1s.

“One of the great advantages of DNA libraries is that they can store a lot of information in a very small space., which is much more compact than traditional digital storage media. In addition,DNA demonstrates high stability and reliability in long-term information storage,” Professor Raišutis added.

Dr. Lukas Žemaitis, co-founder of Genomika, also said that after billions of years of evolution and optimization, DNA is naturally suitable for storing information. As humans enter the information age, we may be able to learn from the power of nature and use it for our own benefit.

DNA data storage may first find applications in the medical field, where medical data needs to be stored and retrieved throughout a patient's life cycle. However, the technology has greater potential and can also help companies reduce power consumption and cooling requirements for data storage, significantly reducing carbon emissions.

It should be noted that the three-year development time is only an estimate, and the project may encounter unexpected obstacles during the process.