Micron continues to defend its decision to shut down the Crucial consumer division, under which the company sold memory modules and SSDs for the mass market.
In an interview with Wccftech, Christopher Moore, Vice President of Marketing for Mobile and Client Business, stated that the perception that"Micron is abandoning consumers" is incorrect. According to him, the company continues to work with end users - it just does it through the OEM channel now.
"We try to help consumers around the world - just through different channels. We still have a large business in the client and mobile segments, and, of course, in data centers."
Micron claims that the bulk of consumer shipments now go directly to laptop and PC manufacturers - Dell, ASUS, HP, and others. These companies purchase LPDDR5 modules directly and integrate them into finished devices. Thus, even after the closure of Crucial, Micron remains in the supply chain for end users, although the brand will no longer appear "on the shelves."
However, the growth in demand for memory from the artificial intelligence segment has dramatically changed the market balance. According to Moore, data centers now account for up to 60% of total DRAM shipments, and the industry as a whole is experiencing a severe shortage.
"This is not a Micron problem - it's an industry problem. We and our competitors are doing our best, but there is physically not enough capacity. Everything is growing too fast."
Even large-scale construction of new factories does not yield quick results. Micron began expanding its Idaho plant three years ago, but, according to Moore, real production will not begin until 2028 - only after equipment certification and customer approval.
The company also faces technological limitations: the greater the variety of modules (for example, 8, 12, and 16 GB for different devices), the lower the line performance. Therefore, Micron encourages partners to unify memory configurations to increase output.
"When you stop machines to switch from 12 to 16 GB, it reduces output. Now we are trying to work with a minimum number of variations to stabilize production."
Micron admits that the memory market will not reach equilibrium until at least 2028. The AI boom, growing demand for modules, and limited production capacity prevent companies from increasing volumes quickly enough.
Meanwhile, Moore's explanation that the company is "helping consumers through other channels" has sparked a wave of criticism on Reddit and in the comments under the original publication.
Readerscriticize not only Micron, but also Wccftech itself, accusing it of retelling corporate PR:"I hope Wccftech got paid very well for publishing Micron's press release - because I no longer trust this source."
Among other comments:
"He's literally gaslighting";
"The headline says we got it all wrong, and the text says we got it all right";
"Band of traitors";
"The bottom line is simple: data centers are more important because that's where the money is."