Breakthrough Exponentially Expands Data Storage

Breakthrough Exponentially Expands Data Storage

For years, the limiting factor of increasing computational power has been how much electronic circuitry manufacturers can cram onto a single chip. Moore’s Law describes a trend that’s held true since 1971 in which CPUs have essentially doubled in capacity every 18 months, and data storage such as hard disks have generally kept up the same gradual growth – but that trend is about to be blown sky high. Computer scientists working for IBM have discovered a way for a comparatively small number of iron atoms on a disk – 12 atoms as opposed to 1 million – to store a single bit of data. If manufacturing using this method proves feasible, we could soon see hard drives that can store 100 to 150 times more data in the same size drive that’s in the computer you’re using to read this news post.