Like it or love it, AI has been a hot topic lately, and not always for good reasons. Between the explosion of new data centers and the fear of job displacement, it has already shaken things up. Now we can add another item to the list: it is about to make us spend more money. Micron, one of the biggest names in the SSD and RAM space, has announced that it is exiting the consumer market.
Starting in February 2026, Micron will stop selling its hugely popular Crucial memory kits and SSDs to everyday consumers. Instead, the company will shift entirely to enterprise and commercial sales. That means data centers and businesses with massive RAM needs will still have access to Micron products, but regular PC builders and upgraders will not. And if you have not been keeping up, data centers have been popping up everywhere thanks to AI and its heavy processing demands.
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,” said Sumit Sadana, EVP and Chief Business Officer at Micron Technology. “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.
So, if you are looking to upgrade your PC or planning a new build, now is the time to grab a memory kit or SSD or two.
Not because Micron is disappearing forever, since other companies will absolutely fill the gap, but because its exit from the consumer space is going to cause a ripple effect. RAM and SSDs will become harder to find as people buy up remaining stock and even non enterprise businesses start scrambling for whatever they can get. That increased demand will push prices up across the board for everyone else who sells RAM and SSDs.
And I don’t want to be that guy, but if Micron, one of the biggest producers of RAM and SSDs are doing this, there’s no telling if other companies will follow suit.
If you spot RAM or SSDs on sale, especially Crucial, which has been rock solid in my experience building PCs, I highly recommend that you grab it.
Source: Micron
