As RAM prices explode and availability becomes an issue thanks to AI companies, Micron announced their Crucial consumer business is no longer a thing.

As RAM prices explode and availability becomes an issue thanks to AI companies, Micron announced their Crucial consumer business is no longer a thing.

Sent out in a press release today Micron said they’ve decided to “exit the Crucial consumer business, including the sale of Crucial consumer-branded products at key retailers, e-tailers and distributors worldwide”. Shipments will continue until the end of February 2026 - but after that, it’s over as they will “continue to support the sale of Micron-branded enterprise products to commercial channel customers globally”.

As for why? You probably guessed it - AI! From the press release:

“The AI-driven growth in the data center has led to a surge in demand for memory and storage. Micron has made the difficult decision to exit the Crucial consumer business in order to improve supply and support for our larger, strategic customers in faster-growing segments,” said Sumit Sadana, EVP and Chief Business Officer at Micron Technology. “Thanks to a passionate community of consumers, the Crucial brand has become synonymous with technical leadership, quality and reliability of leading-edge memory and storage products. We would like to thank our millions of customers, hundreds of partners and all of the Micron team members who have supported the Crucial journey for the last 29 years.”

Crucial did RAM and SSDs, so all of it will be going away from us lowly consumers.

  • 0_o7@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    11·
    9 hours ago

    I remember when bitcoin mining was the fad but illegal in some countries and when big centers were raided, they would be auctioned. Then they would go on sale eBay and Chinese sites. This was before ASIC bitcoin miners.

    But now, the governments are fucking enabling this bubble and there won’t be a fucking relief until everything falls apart.

    I just hope it is soon. The end consumers are already suffering, imagine how unis and science and medical research facilities must be affected, who actually use AI for good.

  • stoy@lemmy.zipEnglish
    102·
    23 hours ago

    Looks like Micron decided that consumers weren’t crucial to their business.

  • the_q@lemmy.zipEnglish
    72·
    23 hours ago

    Remember this when the bubble bursts and they come begging for consumer dollars again.

    • wooffersyt@lemmings.worldEnglish
      7·
      14 hours ago

      Their goal is to make it so entrenched in major companies so that when the bubble does “burst”, they can claim they’re “too big to fail” and get bailed out by the working class. This is all while executives make millions or even billions.

      I wish humans were smarter.

    • inclementimmigrant@lemmy.worldEnglish
      28·
      22 hours ago

      And by then they will have had their millions in bonuses and they know most people will be buying their crap when the bubble bursts because most of people have the memory of a goldfish.

  • Takashiro@lemmy.todayEnglish
    17·
    19 hours ago

    Isn’t it sort of already normal to know that all this ai bullshit is a bubble? So why would a gigantic company join at this time?

    I concluded they don’t care because they will make a quick profit and will be bailed out when things go wrong, so the question would be “why not?” …

    • Baggie@lemmy.zipEnglish
      21·
      19 hours ago

      They’re gamblers and con men. People that get to controlling positions in these businesses generally don’t do it by being reasonable and responsible with the people under them, money or ethics.

  • DahGangalang@infosec.pubEnglish
    13·
    21 hours ago

    Oh, I was wondering why RAM prices seemed so much higher. Its been ~4 years since I looked and gaslit myself into thinking my brain was just going bad.

    Glad to see I wasn’t just imagining it.

      • DahGangalang@infosec.pubEnglish
        10·
        19 hours ago

        Lol, suppose not.

        But I’m glad at least I’m not crazy while living in this reality (though I suppose it my be less painful that way).

        • AnarchistArtificer@slrpnk.netEnglish
          3·
          9 hours ago

          Ignorance isn’t bliss when you’re living in an objectively crazy world. At that point, you either internalise all the craziness and believe it’s in your head, or you look up and recognise that it’s the world that’s nuts. I’d prefer not to live in such a world, but given that I do, I might as well not be in denial about it.

  • mesa@piefed.socialEnglish
    21·
    23 hours ago

    Lets see how far it goes if AI starts failing…or even if another company can produce faster than they can.

    • 9488fcea02a9@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      44·
      23 hours ago

      if another company can produce faster than they can.

      micron wasn’t just a designer and builder of these products… they also have their own fabs. there are only a few companies that actually produce the RAM and NAND chips used in these products. micron was one of them. the other 2 big ones are skhynix and samsung…

      someone please correct me if i’m wrong, but this seems like a massive manufacturing gap that needs to be filled. it’s not easy to just find a new supply of chips.

      • Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        13·
        23 hours ago

        Its not the first that this has come up, either. IIRC a tsunami massively impacted DDR4 production, i remember the 2x16GB kit that i bought months before had gone up to $500+ USD.

  • Mugita Sokio@lemmy.todayEnglish
    32·
    16 hours ago

    It’s not as bad as you think at the moment. Yes, what Micron did was stupid, but I digress from that, focusing on the bigger picture. There are other manufacturers of RAM, so we’re in good hands for now. It could change for the positive or negative in the future, however.