Micron announces its exit from Crucial consumer SSD and RAM business, pushes all-in for AI

Micron has just announced suddenly that it is closing its Crucial consumer SSD and RAM business, as it is pushing all-in for AI, in the middle of the crazy-expensive RAM crisis.

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In a press release, the US-based memory company -- only one of three major DRAM manufacturers between Samsung and SK hynix -- has said that it will continue shipments of its Crucial consumer products into the channel until the end of Q2 2026. After that, Micron will work with its partners and customers through the transition, providing continued warranty service and support for Crucial-branded products.

Sumit Sadana, EVP and Chief Business Officer at Micron Technology, said: "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".

He added: "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".

Starting in Q3 2026, Micron will allocate all of its DRAM production into AI products and customers, which is exactly the problem. The AI industry is eating up all of the high-speed memory it can get, with TSMC, SK hynix, and Samsung all fabbing and making as much DRAM as it can, with the likes of NVIDIA requesting that TSMC increase its 3nm semiconductor production capacity by 50% so it can make (and sell) more AI GPUs, with the ever-important DRAM-based HBM3E and HBM4 memory.

DRAM production being increased and allocated towards AI chips has seen the price of consumer RAM (single sticks, kits of all sizes) rapidly increase in price over the last few months. We've seen 64GB kits of DDR5 memory skyrocket from around $150, to over $500, making 64GB of RAM for your PC cost more than a PlayStation 5 console... and it's not slowing down, and it's not going to stop for the foreseeable future.

It's not just DDR5 RAM for your system, as DRAM is inside of many tech products, including your GPU (up to 32GB of ultra-fast GDDR7 memory on the flagship GeForce RTX 5090), and many other products and devices that are sold. Anything with DRAM in it will cost more in 2026, as AI is unfortunately gobbling up all DRAM production, and some.

This is why Micron has decided to axe its Crucial consumer memory business, as it can use its vast semiconductor production capacity into DRAM-based HBM3, HBM3E, HBM4, and more for the AI industry. Micron was one of three of the biggest DRAM suppliers, leaving SK hynix and Samsung in South Korea to keep up DRAM production for consumer devices, as the technology world would crumble without consumer-focused DRAM production.

2026 is going to be a bumpy year, with CES 2026 right around the corner, it'll be interesting about what's said, what products are sold (in enough quantities, especially with higher amounts of RAM, SSDs, etc), and what the outlook is for next year regarding the consumer RAM and SSD space with Micron's exit from the Crucial consumer business.