Micron discontinues the Crucial brand: A turning point as it moves away from mainstream consumers to focus its efforts on the AI race.
Micron's vice president has just offered an explanation for the closure of the Crucial brand. The company decided to withdraw from the consumer storage market to focus on its AI and profitable enterprise segments.
Micron, one of the world's leading memory manufacturers, has shaken the tech community by officially announcing its withdrawal from the consumer storage and memory market. This decision coincides with the discontinuation of Crucial, a brand that has long been associated with PC users and gamers worldwide.
The enormous profits from the AI craze are causing Micron to change its strategy.
In a recent interview, Micron's Vice President clarified the reasons behind this unexpected move. According to the company's leadership, the demand for data and memory infrastructure from large corporations serving artificial intelligence (AI) is growing at a breakneck pace. This demand not only offers higher profits but is also much more stable and scalable than the traditional retail market.
The closure of Crucial allows Micron to reallocate all its resources, from research and development to manufacturing, to data center and enterprise equipment. This is seen as an action to optimize profits amidst the AI "gold rush" dominating the semiconductor industry.
Regular users and gamers are at a disadvantage.
While the strategic shift brings financial benefits to large corporations, ordinary consumers are facing negative consequences. Crucial has long been known as a brand offering SSDs and RAM with excellent performance-to-price ratios, making it a preferred choice for millions of users when upgrading their computers.
The withdrawal of a giant like Micron from the consumer market not only reduces choice but could also indirectly drive up component prices due to a lack of competition. The gaming community, which has high demands for memory speed, is now expressing great disappointment with this decision.
The general trend of shift in the technology industry.
The cases of Micron and Crucial are not unique. Many component manufacturers are now prioritizing orders from tech giants building AI systems over catering to individual retail customers. This indicates a profound shift in the global hardware market structure, where the value of AI is increasingly overshadowing traditional personal entertainment and work needs.
