Micron exits consumer market

[OPNenthu]

https://investors.micron.com/news-releases/news-release-details/micron-announces-exit-crucial-consumer-business

It looks like the RAM "shortage" for consumers could be a little more than temporary.  Gamers Nexus on YT just did an interesting piece with their take on this (won't get into it here).

Maybe don't wait to buy that router or RAM kit you've been thinking about... :(

[franco]

When the bubble bursts we will have all the cheap enterprise grade RAM we need. "Yay".  ;)


Cheers,
Franco

[OPNenthu]

Say it louder, please.  Some CEOs are acting deaf.

[meyergru]

Why wouldn't they? They want (some actually need) the party to go on.

[Greg_E]

I see this as the rise of RAM produced in China. Make a vacuum and something will fill it. They still need ram for the RISC V processors that they are trying to switch towards to create independence, so they will make ram to fit in their infrastructure. Slow process but they are already starting down this path with RISC-V.

And once that country tools up and starts producing good quality product, the strategy of selling only to volume customers may backfire on Micron. Remember that Micron is building multiple new fab sites in the USA, and while they are getting huge amounts of subsidies from the governments, ultimately this will cost them money to build. And yet they closed the Arizona plant because they had too much capacity in other plants? https://www.abc15.com/news/business/microchip-to-close-arizona-facility-amid-cost-concerns

Now what I can't find is the proof that the Arizona plant really closed, and I have my guesses at why they would close this place and TSMC would build in the same state. Problem is that making and etching silicon takes a lot of water, and stable bedrock, not sure why either would build in a desert and near a large and active fault line. https://www.restonyc.com/how-many-gallons-of-water-does-it-take-to-make-a-chip/ https://www.weforum.org/stories/2024/07/the-water-challenge-for-semiconductor-manufacturing-and-big-tech-what-needs-to-be-done/

Here is what the NY plan looks like, you can see 4 WWT buildings and I assume these are waste water treatment buildings. The selection of the location was based on access to lots of clean water, and lots of electric power. https://townofclayny.gov/sites/default/files/2025-10/Micron%20New%20York%20Planning%20Board%20Presentation_10.08.2025_FINAL.pdf

We will see what happens, but there seems to be conflicting statements around this whole build. I think they just wanted to dump all the hassles that come with consumer products and consumers. Just like when Lexar got sold off https://www.micron.com/about/blog/company/partners/micron-discontinuing-lexar

Sell the bulk chips to module builders and let the builders take care of the consumers.

Maybe NEC will come back from the obscure, I have a stick of PC100 ram sitting on my desk pulled from a dead device from more than 10 years ago. ST, Broadcom (shudders) and a few others could tool up in the next couple of years if they wanted to fill the void, but I think China will be faster to tool up, and will be "OK" enough quality to fill the immediate void. We'll see if I'm right.

[coffeecup25]

I still have some old DDR3 Laptop memory put away somewhere. Time to make some money on eBay.

Seriously, I recently looked for 16GB DDR4 and a larger SSD to upgrade an old laptop and was surprised at how the prices had gone up. I decided not to get any. I'll probably buy a new to me refurbished laptop with newer and larger everything for only a little more later.

[meyergru]

Yup, sometimes, this hits earlier than one thinks... Yesterday, I found my Proxmox server getting unstable until I increased Vcore by 100mV - obviously a VRM is on its way out.

Replacing it by a current platform means getting 128 GByte of DDR5 instead of DDR4, which costs ~1500€ for any non-abysmal speed at the time of writing, so the cost for mainboard, CPU, RAM and cooler comes to ~2500€

It is an AM4 system with lots of storage, so I need a decent chipset for many PCIe lanes - X570 is the only one that fits. The only specimens capable of handling my needs and still being available are at least 400€ and are backordered.

At that price, it is easier to keep the existing RAM and order an Intel LGA1700 based board, CPU and cooler for the same cost.

[pfry]

[...]And yet they closed the Arizona plant[...]

Different company. Microchip's market overlaps little with Micron (or TSMC). As far as Arizona water, agriculture far exceeds any other use, and it's mostly for cotton, I believe. They have management issues beyond semiconductor manufacturing.

Anyway, as far as Micron, et al: "it's a bold strategy..."

[...]At that price, it is easier to keep the existing RAM and order an Intel LGA1700 based board[...]

Sounds like a decent option, if it becomes necessary. But how long will those last? (There were good deals on CPUs recently, but they've likely dried up.)

[OPNenthu]

Sell the bulk chips to module builders and let the builders take care of the consumers.

I was under the impression that they would stop even selling to integrators based on this line from the announcement:

[...] Micron will continue to support the sale of Micron-branded enterprise products to commercial channel customers globally.

I don't really know what that means but I interpret it literally, as in they are only selling finished products under the Micron label to enterprise customers.  No more Micron chips flowing to consumer-facing integrators, such as Kingston.

If that's correct then effectively the consumer RAM chip supply will come down to Samsung and SK-Hynix in the interim.  It's the hypothetical equivalent of Nvidia stopping sales to board partners and instead selling only first party GPUs to data centers.

(I actually hope I misinterpreted it...)

You could be right that China will fill the void.  I wouldn't bet against it.

[OPNenthu]

Seriously, I recently looked for 16GB DDR4 and a larger SSD to upgrade an old laptop and was surprised at how the prices had gone up.

Yup, sometimes, this hits earlier than one thinks... Yesterday, I found my Proxmox server getting unstable until I increased Vcore by 100mV - obviously a VRM is on its way out.

I recently got my first NAS (a DXP4800 Plus appliance that I replaced the boot drive and put TrueNAS on it) and was lucky to have found a compatible 64GB kit *just* as the prices started to climb.  Had to return the first kit I tried due to Memtest errors.  Close call on that one. :)

My desktop is on borrowed time.  I've had the same DDR4 kit over three CPU upgrades now.  It's the end of the road for my AM4 and any failure would mean DDR5 or newer now (unobtainium).  I should probably hire a priest to bless it...

[meyergru]

Or you go cheap (as I did) and switch to Intel 12th-14th gen. Those LGA1700 boards are still available and many use DDR4. New AM4 boards are unobtanium. And having had the experience of a 400€ board passing out after less than three years, I am not too keen on trying a used/refurbished one.

I never had failing RAM until now, only mainboards. I think it is getting worse with the voltage regulation now on the mainboards instead of the PSU and the obscene power draw of modern CPUs.