Micron Technology, a storage company, announced today that it will exit the Crucial brand. Instead of selling RAM and storage to consumers, it will focus on AI data centers.
Micron Technology, a storage company, announced today that it will exit the Crucial brand. Instead of selling RAM and storage to consumers, it will focus on AI data centers.
Micron Technology plans to discontinue selling Crucial-branded products through key retailers, online retailers and distributors worldwide. The company will continue to supply Crucial products to consumers and provide warranty support through the end of February 2026. However, it plans to continue selling Micron-branded products to businesses.
«The growth of data centers driven by the advancement of artificial intelligence has led to a sharp increase in demand for memory and storage. Micron has made the difficult decision to exit the Crucial business to better serve and support our larger strategic customers in faster-growing segments. We would like to thank our millions of customers, hundreds of partners and all of the Micron team members who have supported Crucial for the past 29 years,» said Sumit Sadana, executive vice president and chief business officer, Micron Technology.
Reuters reported that Micron will double production of memory chips used in artificial intelligence data centers amid a global shortage of the essential semiconductors. The company’s shares fell 2,6% on the news.
HBM, a type of high-density memory, involves stacking chips vertically to reduce power consumption, which helps process large amounts of data, making it invaluable in artificial intelligence development. These chips are more expensive than consumer memory and tend to generate high margins.
Micron’s revenue from HBM rose to nearly $2 billion in the August quarter, bringing its annual revenue to nearly $8 billion, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said in September.
Recall that the global RAM market is currently experiencing an unprecedented crisis caused by the explosive demand for chips for artificial intelligence. DRAM prices have increased by 171,8% over the year and have even exceeded the growth rate of the value of gold. A 64 GB DDR5 memory kit already costs over $500 — more expensive than a PlayStation 5 game console.
dev.ua looked into what the DRAM shortage threatens for ordinary users, who is to blame, and how long the crisis will last.
