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New Delhi: Micron’s exit from the consumer memory business has sent a wave of worry across PC gamers and PC builders worldwide. Crucial has been a familiar name on SSDs and RAM sticks inside many home computers for nearly three decades. So hearing that the brand is shutting down feels like the end of an era.
And this shift has been driven by something I see everywhere these days. AI is eating up chips at an incredible rate. The memory that once went inside gaming rigs and laptops is now being pulled into giant data centers. That changes priorities fast.
Micron confirmed that it will wind down the globally recognised Crucial consumer business by the end of its fiscal Q2 in February 2026. The company will keep shipping Crucial memory and SSDs till then. After that, no more availability at retailers or online stores for everyday consumers.
Sumit Sadana, EVP and Chief Business Officer at Micron, explained the call in a press statement. “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 said. Sadana also thanked supporters adding, “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.”
Micron will keep its Micron-branded enterprise drives and memory modules for commercial customers. Warranty services and technical support for Crucial owners will continue even after the shutdown. The company also said it will try to redeploy employees working on the Crucial line into other openings inside Micron.
Crucial was a popular choice for people looking for reliable and affordable RAM or SSD upgrades. It sat in that sweet price spot where you did not pay premium rates but still got trusted performance.
Gamers and creators are now worried about three things:
• fewer options
• higher memory prices
• tougher PC build budgets
Anyone who recently tried building a gaming PC in India will agree. RAM prices have climbed sharply. Checking on price history tools like Keepa and BuyHatke, a few months ago, a decent 32 GB DDR5 kit felt affordable at about Rs 9000. Today the prices easily jump to Rs 39,500. The AI gold rush means every wafer that goes into consumer products is a wafer not going to a big tech client who buys in bulk. So companies chase where the money flows fastest. Suddenly, Apple charging Rs 20,000 for a RAM upgrade in MacBooks feels much more affordable.
Indian PC users often look for good deals. Campus laptops, budget gaming builds and even small offices rely on brands like Crucial. Removing an established brand changes the pricing game at a tricky moment.
Here is what could happen next: PC components with more RAM become costlier, Prebuilt PCs could see slower feature upgrades, Entry level laptops might stick to lower memory configurations, and upgrading RAM could be a thing of the past with manufacturers moving on to soldered RAM in a way to charge more.
Micron says this move is part of its “portfolio transformation” focused on “profitable growth” and high demand segments. In simple words, AI giants are now the top customers and home users come second. Data center chips promise long term contracts. Consumer chips depend on monthly offers and discount festivals.
Micron’s decision is a sign of where hardware priorities are heading. As OpenAI, Google, Meta and others train larger models, every chip manufacturer is changing strategy. Affordable RAM could become a rare sight for some time.
Crucial’s brand may stay on record for now, but the shelves will soon be empty. For those of us who built computers during college or fixed a slow PC for a cousin using a Crucial SSD, this feels like losing a friend in the cabinet.
