Back in December, Micron announced that it was shutting down its consumer memory and storage brand Crucial. At the time, the company said it was due to the “AI-driven growth” within the industry. Now, just over a month later, Micron is addressing the decision to shutter the budget-friendly brand in favor of powering data centers and large AI companies.
In an interview with WCCFTech, Micron’s VP of Marketing, Mobile, and Client Business Unit, Christopher Moore, was asked about the decision and the consumer backlash that followed.
Moore says that the “perception may not be exactly correct” from his point of view. The perception being that the company turned its back on consumers to favor large companies and the continued expansion of data centers. He says that the decisions being made are done to “help consumers around the world.”
Micron Is Still Involved In The Consumer Market
“So, I would never want to tell someone what to think or that they’re wrong, but our viewpoint is that we are trying to help consumers around the world,” he said. “We’re just doing it through different channels. We still have a very sizable business in the client and mobile markets. We are also, of course, servicing our data center customers.
“And what’s going on right now is that the TAM and data center is growing just absolutely tremendously. And we want to make sure that, as a company, we help fulfill that TAM as well.”
Moore said that it’s still suppling LPDDR5 to companies like ASUS and Dell, which he uses to defend is point on helping consumers. He said that the company is “in contact with every single PC brand out there to supply memory modules” and holds a “large portion of the consumer supply chain through the OEM model.”
That said, Micron “cannot ignore the demand coming from AI right now.”
Regarding the continued shortage of memory and storage, Moore believes that things might not get better until 2028. At least, on Micron’s side. They are working on building new facilities, including a new facility in Idaho scheduled to open in mid-2027 as well as facility in New York. But, Moore says that everything won’t be up and running until 2028.
In the meantime, consumers might have to stick with their older machines a while longer as prices continue to soar throughout the market.
What do you make of Moore’s comments regarding Micron, Crucial and the state of consumer PC parts? Leave your thoughts down in the comments and join the discussion in the Insider Gaming Discord server.
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Mike has been covering the gaming industry since 2012, and has reported on some of the largest events in the industry while also working as an investigative reporter. Outside of…
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