Ceramic-based startup wants to put more than 100,000TB in a 42U rack by 2030 — but it will take almost 50 years to fill it up

• The first-generation system is slower than tape but aims to scale up rapidly by 2030
• Cerabyte’s roadmap involves physics so advanced it sounds like sci-fi with helium ion beams
• Long-term capacity hinges on speculative tech that doesn’t yet exist outside lab settings

Munich-based startup Cerabyte is developing what it claims could become a disruptive alternative to magnetic tape in archival data storage.

Using femtosecond lasers to etch data onto ceramic layers within glass tablets, the company envisions racks holding more than 100 petabytes (100,000TB) of data by the end of the decade.

Yet despite these bold goals, practical constraints mean it may take decades before such capacity sees real-world usage.