Can SPhotonix’s optical memory technology protect data better than today’s storage?
Updated
January 8, 2026 6:32 PM
SPhotonix's 5D Memory Crystals™. PHOTO: SPHOTONIX
SPhotonix, a young deep-tech startup, is working on something unexpected for the data storage world: tiny, glass-like crystals that can hold enormous amounts of information for extremely long periods of time. The company works where light and data meet, using photonics—the science of shaping and guiding light—to build optical components and explore a new form of memory called “5D optical storage”.
It’s based on research that began more than twenty years ago, when Professor Peter Kazansky showed that a small crystal could preserve data—from the human genome to the entire Wikipedia—essentially forever.
Their new US$4.5 million pre-seed round, led by Creator Fund and XTX Ventures, is meant to turn that science into real products. And the timing aligns with a growing problem: the world is generating far more digital data than current storage systems can handle. Most of it isn’t needed every day, but it can’t be thrown away either. This long-term, rarely accessed cold data is piling up faster than existing storage infrastructure can manage and maintaining giant warehouses of servers just to keep it all alive is becoming expensive and environmentally unsustainable.
This is the problem SPhotonix is stepping in to solve. They want to store huge amounts of information in a stable format that doesn’t degrade, doesn’t need electricity to preserve data and doesn’t require constant swapping of hardware. Instead of racks of spinning drives, the idea is a durable optical crystal storage system that could last for generations.
The company’s underlying technology—called FemtoEtch™—uses ultrafast lasers to engrave microscopic patterns inside fused silica. These precisely etched structures can function as high-performance optical components for fields like aerospace, microscopy and semiconductor manufacturing. But the same ultra-controlled process can also encode information in five dimensions within the crystal, transforming the material into a compact, long-lasting archive capable of holding massive amounts of information in a very small footprint.
The new funding allows SPhotonix to expand its engineering team, grow its R&D facility in Switzerland and prepare the technology for real-world deployment. Investors say the opportunity is significant: global data generation has more than doubled in recent years and traditional storage systems—drives, disks, tapes—weren’t designed for the scale or longevity modern data demands.
While the company has been gaining attention in research circles (and even made an appearance in the latest Mission Impossible film), its next step is all about practical adoption. If the technology reaches commercial viability, it could offer an alternative to the energy-hungry, short-lived storage hardware that underpins much of today’s digital infrastructure.
As digital information continues to multiply, preserving it safely and sustainably is becoming one of the biggest challenges in modern computing. SPhotonix’s work points toward a future where long-lasting, low-maintenance optical data storage becomes a practical alternative to today’s fragile systems. It offers a more resilient way to preserve knowledge for the decades ahead.
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From plush figures to digital pets, a new class of AI toys is emerging — built not around screens or sensors, but around memory, language and emotional awareness
Updated
February 5, 2026 2:00 PM
Spielwarenmesse toy fair. PHOTO: SPIELWARENMESSE
Spielwarenmesse in Nuremberg is the global meeting point for the toy industry, where brands and designers preview what will shape how children play and learn next. At this year’s fair, one message stood out clearly: toys are no longer built just to entertain, but to listen, respond and grow with children. Tuya Smart, a global AI cloud platform company, used the event to show how AI-powered toys are turning familiar formats into interactive companions that can talk, react emotionally and adapt over time.
The company’s central argument was simple but far-reaching. The next generation of artificial intelligence toys will not be defined by motors, sensors or screens alone, but by how well they understand human behavior. Instead of being single-function objects, smart toys for children are becoming systems that combine language models, emotion recognition and memory to support ongoing interaction.
One of the most talked-about examples was Tuya Smart’s Nebula Plush AI Toy. At first glance, it looks like a soft, expressive plush figure. Inside, it uses emotional recognition to change its LED facial expressions in real time. If a child sounds sad or excited, the toy’s eyes respond visually. It supports natural conversation, reacts to hugs and touch and combines storytelling, news-style updates and interactive games. Over time, it builds memory, allowing it to behave less like a gadget and more like an interactive AI toy that recalls past interactions.
Another example was Walulu, also developed using Tuya’s AI toy platform. Walulu is an AI pet built around personalization. It can detect up to 19 emotional states and speak more than 60 languages. It connects to major large language models such as ChatGPT, Gemini, DeepSeek, Qwen and Doubao. Through simple app-based controls, users choose traits like cheerful, quiet, curious or thoughtful. Those choices shape how Walulu talks and reacts. Instead of repeating scripts, it adjusts its tone and behavior over time. The result is not a novelty item, but an emotionally responsive AI toy that feels consistent in daily use.
Tuya also showed how educational AI toys can extend into learning and exploration. Its AI Learning Camera blends computer vision with interactive content. When it recognizes an object, it links it to cultural and learning material. If a child points it at a foreign word, it offers real-time pronunciation and translation. It can also turn drawings into digital artwork, encouraging active creativity rather than passive screen time. In this sense, AI toys for kids are becoming tools for learning as much as play.
These products point to a larger strategy. Tuya is not just making toys — it is building the AI toy development platform behind them. Through its AI Toy Solution, developers can design a toy’s personality, memory logic and behavior without training models from scratch. The system integrates with leading AI models and supports multi-turn conversation and emotional feedback, turning standard hardware into responsive AI companions.
The platform supports multiple development paths. Brands can use ready-to-market OEM solutions, add AI to existing products or build custom toys around their own characters. Plush toys, robots, educational tools and wearables can all become AI-powered toys without changing their physical design.
Because these products are made for children and families, safety is built in. Tuya’s system includes parental controls, conversation history review and content management. It supports standards such as GDPR and CCPA with encryption and data localization.
From a business standpoint, Tuya’s pitch is speed and scale. The company says its AI toy infrastructure can cut development time by more than half and reduce R&D costs by up to 50 percent. Its AIoT network spans over 200 countries and supports more than 60 languages, making global deployment of AI toys easier.
What emerged at Spielwarenmesse 2026 was not just a lineup of smart gadgets, but a clear shift in the category. AI toys are evolving into emotionally aware systems that talk, listen, remember and adapt. Their value lies not in sounding clever, but in fitting naturally into everyday life.
The fair did not present AI toys as a distant future. It showed them as products already entering the mainstream. The real question now is not whether toys will use AI, but how carefully that intelligence is designed for children.