By Keumars Afifi-Sabet
Publication Date: 2026-02-18 17:45:00
Breakthrough improvements to Microsoft’s glass-based data-storage technology mean ordinary glassware, such as that used in cookware and oven doors, can store terabytes of data, with the information lasting 10,000 years.
The technology, which has been in development under the “Project Silica” banner since 2019, has seen steady improvements, and scientists outlined the latest innovations today (Feb. 18) in the journal Nature.
In the new study, the team showed they could encode data onto ordinary borosilicate glass — a durable, heat-resistant type of glass that’s often used in glassware found in most kitchens. Previously, the scientists could only store data on pure fused silica glass, which is expensive to make and available from only a few sources. They also demonstrated several new data-encoding and data-reading techniques.
“The advance addresses key barriers to commercialization: cost and availability of storage media,” study co-author Richard Black, partner…