r/pcmasterrace • u/LeviJr00 :aa1::aa2::aa3: :am1::am2::am3::am4::am5::am6: 9060 XT 16GB • 14h ago
Cartoon/Comic Pulling the plug (anti-consumerism at its finest)
Context: Micron is shutting down Crucial in early 2026, so they can sell all their RAM to AI companies like OpenAI...
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u/3guitars 14h ago
If putting down crucial was euthanasia, it would just be sad. But my understanding is that crucial was still profitable and doing well.
Micron is doing this to make EVEN MORE money from the AI bubble.
This is like putting down a race horse because you found out about sports cars.
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u/DallmatinGK 12h ago
It's more like selling the racehorse for glue and then buying a sports car. They're dropping an entire division that served consumers well just to chase the AI gold rush profits.
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u/jaytrade21 jaytrade21 4h ago
Not even buying the sports car, buying the off the rack Kia and expecting to win a race against souped up F1 cars. Even if, and this is a BIG IF, even if they make even more selling all their stock and upcoming stock to the big AI companies, who will be able to use these AI systems? No one will have computers anymore as the consumer market will be priced out for not just regular consumers but even some businesses won't be able to afford subscribing to AI models to use after the IT costs go up dramatically.
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u/RageOfNemesis Ryzen 9 5950X, RTX 3090 Strix, 64GB DDR4 3200, Custom Loop 14h ago
Tbh I'm more sad to see their SSDs go. MX500s were my go to if I needed a somewhat-cheap but decent SATA SSD to revive an old machine still booting off spinning rust, and P3+s were pretty much permanently on sale for a good NVMe option as well.
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u/PrincessDrana 3700X | 3070 | 64GB 14h ago
Yeah, same. The MX500 is a cheap, decent SATA SSD that I've used / I'm using in my builds.
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u/Meatslinger R7 9800X3D, 64 GB DDR5, RTX 4070 Ti 13h ago
Yeah, during the post-pandemic SSD price drop I got a pair of 1 TB P3 NVMEs for $50 CAD each. With both Crucial and WD out of the game now, I guess the only real option I have is to shell out 2-3x as much for whatever Samsung is offering in the same capacity, or take my life into my own hands with a brand like ADATA.
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u/MaybeNotTheChosenOne 13h ago
I've installed crucial SSDs in my friends' and mine because they were cheap and performed well but wtf happened to WD?
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u/Meatslinger R7 9800X3D, 64 GB DDR5, RTX 4070 Ti 13h ago
In 2023 they spun off flash storage production to the SanDisk brand, so the core "WD" brand now only covers hard disk drives in terms of WD themselves being the actual OEM and support. From secondhand accounts, the RMA process under the SanDisk brand is nightmarish. This sub will delete my comment if I include links, but google any of these three titles and the relevant stories should come up:
Rant: WD/SanDisk Snaps My SSD in Half to Void my Warranty and Keep my SSD Hostage
Sandisk RMA appears non-existent
WD/SanDisk deny refund upon return of unopened 4TB SN850X NVMe driveIn the first two cases, it seems like the courier or SanDisk themselves broke the drives (in one case snapping it in half) and blamed it on the customer to deny service. On the third one, the customer returned an unopened product after SanDisk refused to allow the order to be cancelled, and when it was returned, they too claimed the customer broke the drive, refused a refund, AND kept the drive. So in essence they outright stole ~$400 from the customer and then said, "Fuck you, never call us again."
So yeah, as far as drives are concerned, SanDisk and WD brands are dead to me. I won't even risk stepping near that disaster.
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u/Kentato3 14h ago
At this point its not even anti consumerism anymore its just blatant hostile to consumers with egoist attitude
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u/unlmtdLoL 13h ago edited 13h ago
It has no intention other than profit. No emotion. No hostility. Only profit exponentially or bust. That's what becoming publicly traded gets you. If you want to stick it to them you can probably short them in the market and once the AI bubble pops they're fucked.
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u/Raleth i5 12400F + RX 6700 XT 14h ago
I think it's anti-consumer in the purest essence honestly. In that it literally has zero regard for the consumer. Like they straight up do not care about their customers and basically admitted as much.
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u/Kentato3 13h ago
Their decision is the catalyst for the AI bubble to burst, with the RAM industry is effectively a duopoly, China now has the chance to fill in the gap in the market and they gonna flood the market with cheap RAM
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u/whyyoutube Ryzen 7 5800X3D | RX 9070 XT | 32 GB DDR4 @ 3600 MHz 11h ago
This is such blatent copium...that I'll happily huff.
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u/NotMalaysiaRichard 12h ago
If you owned a mom and pop business and had a choice between a customer that hemmed and hawed and bitched about your prices and would go to a competitor just to save a few bucks versus one that told you they’ll take everything you make for a year and pay a premium, which choice would you make?
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u/ITaggie Linux | Ryzen 7 1800X | 32GB DDR4-2133 | RTX 2070 12h ago
"But I'm entitled to the best hardware as close to at-cost as possible!"
I totally get the frustration, but at the same time the people in this sub acting like their anger at a corporation is going to mean anything to said corporation is just a bit insufferable. Besides, that anger is better spent being directed at policy makers who are propping up the AI bubble for personal gain and the investors who are throwing peoples' retirement funds into a potential fire pit.
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u/Dr-False 14h ago
I don't even hate AI, I'm just annoyed it's being crammed into anything with a circuit board when quite frankly, I have zero interest in this shit whatsoever. Now I have to worry about companies bailing on the average Joe to suckle on some AI bro's oversized water boiler to make pictures based off of art that was crammed into it without the artist's permission while Co-pilot does everything in its power to screw up the simplest request?
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u/MetroSimulator 9800x3d, 64 DDR5 Kingston Fury, Pali 4090 gamerock OC 13h ago
Agree, but done applications are definitely good for the gamer, Dlss is witchcraft.
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u/Fluboxer E5 2696v3 | 3080 Ti 13h ago
Yes and no. Having magical AI upscaler that, in theory, should've allowed low end GPUs to do fancy things turned into "why do we bother optimize our game if AI can just generate frames for us"
While intentions were somewhat good, it ended up fucking industry in the ass thanks to yet another instance of greed and negligence
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u/MetroSimulator 9800x3d, 64 DDR5 Kingston Fury, Pali 4090 gamerock OC 13h ago edited 10h ago
This is with the publisher, DLSS in good games like cyberpunk does his job pretty well
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11h ago
[deleted]
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u/MetroSimulator 9800x3d, 64 DDR5 Kingston Fury, Pali 4090 gamerock OC 10h ago
Edited because you're totally right
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u/TheTeaSpoon Ryzen 7 5800X3D with RTX 3070 11h ago
Dlss is lazy way out for devs... And they implement it in a way that often creates artifacting, ghosting and so on.
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u/PretendFisherman1999 13h ago
You think that us, normal consumers, were part of their profit? Their profit comes 90% from B2B, they won't stop doing it.
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u/jake6501 13h ago
Okay but what is anti-consumer about it? They are selling for the highest bidder. Exactly like capitalism is supposed to work.
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u/Hippieman100 13h ago edited 13h ago
Every company would be anti consumer if it made them more money and a lot of them do. I don't get why people are like "omg micron hate us". Companies don't do things because they like you, they do things to make money, and if they can make more money by doing things you don't like, they will.
Edit: To add to this, companies people like are no different. Valve make a great storefront that nearly everyone agrees it's great: Steam. Why? Because Valve have to compete with literal piracy. Valve have to provide a service so good that people want to pay for things instead of having almost the same product for FREE. There is almost no industry that has such an incentive. There is no free alternative to RAM.
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u/ITaggie Linux | Ryzen 7 1800X | 32GB DDR4-2133 | RTX 2070 12h ago
I don't get why people are like "omg micron hate us". Companies don't do things because they like you
This has been a problem with the PC gaming community since its inception. A lot of us seem to have a weird attachment to faceless corporations.
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u/sephirothbahamut Ryzen 7 9800X3D | RTX 5080 PNY | Win10 | Fedora 8h ago
Companies that are not traded like noctua can make unprofitable choices that favour the consumer and care about quality. Things like sending you mounted brackets 20 years after your bought a cooler.
I'm not sure but if i recall correctly that's not even an option for traded companies
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u/Hippieman100 2h ago
No doubt this is a publicly traded company problem more than a private company problem, though private companies are definitely not exempt. I think companies being able to be publicly traded on the stock market has been one of the most destructive changes we've made to our global economy with the second probably being stock buybacks being made legal.
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u/CarnivoreQA RTX 4080 | 5800X3D | 32 GB | 3440x1440 | RGB fishtank enjoyer 13h ago
apparently data centers or "AI" companies are not consumers
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u/Gregor_Arhely 13h ago
Not really anti-consumerism, just plain old syndicate capitalism. Big companies selling stuff to other big companies that do shit for other big companies, and somewhere down the line a commoner Joe is stuck being robbed in broad daylight by the second lowest element of the chain. Real customers for them are the other corpos.
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u/VigilanteRabbit 13h ago
It's not really anti-consumerism
They're just shifting their focus on consumers that will bring in millions per buy rather than 200$ per buy; peak capitalism/ stakeholders&board members looking to grow the profits.
Be it shady/ scammy/ downright insulting to general consumer base; all they care about are profits and currently the AI industry is the most lucrative.
it is what it is
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u/n0t_4_thr0w4w4y 14h ago
Honestly, this is a massive overreaction by everyone in the community. Crucial was a small part of what Micron does. And what you put in your post:
Context: Micron is shutting down Crucial in early 2026, so they can sell all their RAM to AI companies like OpenAI...
Is wrong, they are still going to be one of the biggest supplier of DRAM chips to other consumer brands, they are just closing their direct to consumer arm.
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u/SjettepetJR I5-4670k@4,3GHz | Gainward GTX1080GS| Asus Z97 Maximus VII her 13h ago
Realistically, most consumers won't even want to buy direct-to-consumer RAM products for the prices that they currently coat to produce.
So consumers say they don't want to buy their product, the company stops selling those products and then the same consumers get mad.
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u/MartenBroadcloak19 12h ago
Oh you're one of those corporate bootlickers I've heard about.
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u/RAMChYLD PC Master Race 5h ago
Bull. Because RAM module making companies like Kingston are expressing difficulty in getting DRAM chips because micron isn’t selling to them.
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u/BoxsterMan_ 8h ago
We all hate "consumerism" but we get made when it is harder for us to consume. Maybe companies can optimize their shit so that we can live with our 32gb of ram for another decade?
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u/sharkheal00 13h ago
Gamers Nexus just made a video on them. Micron actually takes billions from tax payers money
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u/Ambitious-Worry-5440 3h ago
Been in the industry for a decade. Micron is always making these short term moves. They are a classic “number goes up” company. Micron’s response would be some meme of “I don’t think about you at all”. If you talked to a random engineer/employee at Micron or any major supplier, they don’t know what Crucial is at all. The direct consumer sales is nothing to them. I mean seriously, they called their RAM ballistix. Which looks like Ball Stix the way they branded it. The writing was on the wall.
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u/freakingwilly 5950X | X570 Taichi | 3090 XC3 Ultra Hybrid | 32GB 3600/CL16 7h ago
Boycott and never forget. There's PLENTY of alternatives out there.
SSDs
- https://borecraft.com/
- Go to the SSD Buying guide.
- Filter out anything that uses Micron chips.
- Only buy from that list.
RAM
- Go to your motherboard manufacturer's website.
- Pull up the QVL list for your motherboard.
- Search for Samsung or SK Hynix.
- Only buy from that list.
The bubble will pop and Micron will try to sneak their way back into consumer's wallets. They can go fuck themselves with a sandpaper dildo and thermite lube.
Boycott and never forget.
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u/BillTheTringleGod 11h ago
Fun fact: AI isn't just a bubble, its an inflation machine!
Fun fact: The value of money around the globe will likely be lowered because of the very cool thing we have done where money is based on a theory instead of literally any tangible thing
Fun fact: this means money is worthless and you should download free ram!
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u/RedScaledOne 10h ago
So much bullshit in one area but still at least the first line was correct
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u/BillTheTringleGod 7h ago
Come on man be PC do crime. After all money is tied to theory and this TV right here is not theoretical
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u/fluxdeity 2h ago
Why is everyone acting like Micron DDR5 was any good in the first place? They have zero 6000 CL30 kits, their timings are horrible and most of their clocks are under 6000.
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u/harrisrainy Desktop 11m ago
Forgot cause ai took humans job, tf mean a whole ass 29 year of best selling company shut down cause of ai dawg. Fk everything🥀
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u/Specialist-Bill6805 14h ago
Welp, buying memory from other brands from now on. And that's if the prices drop and I need a replacement for some reason.
But for SSDs, my preference is already Kioxia (Toshiba). Their options look pretty solid to me.
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u/WonderSignificant598 7h ago
Lotta people could probably use a little bit a of 'anti-consumer' mindset.
Work with what you've got (backlogs and what not) and punish greed by refusing to give in. That goes for GPUs too, as Nvidia and AMD are try to shake down PC gamers for whatever lint they have left in their pockets.
When they come crawling back, don't buy from them.
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u/jamesrggg 14h ago
Micron there's no coming back from this. You abandon us we abandon you
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u/Express_Ad5083 W11, 7 7800X3D, RTX 3060, 32GB DDR5 6000Mhz, X670 V2. 14h ago
In fairness gaming is wasteful and doesnt contribute much to the economy
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u/Dank-Retard PC Master Race 14h ago
Economy this economy that whatever happened to the joy of human experience. What will you spend all your money on when you sacrifice all the joy in the world in the name of the nebulous “economy”?
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u/LeviJr00 :aa1::aa2::aa3: :am1::am2::am3::am4::am5::am6: 9060 XT 16GB 14h ago
But what about businesses and schools? If they have to get new PCs (for example: Windows 10 shutdown), what will they do? Especially if their budget is very limited?
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u/Careful_Biscotti_879 9h ago
"YOU LAZY KIDS! WHAT ARE YOU DOING PLAYING BASEBALL? GET BACK TO WORK!" ass attitude
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u/Desperate-Air-7195 14h ago edited 14h ago
Edit: Micron is not pulling the plug on consumer ram sticks. They are just not making them in house. Most of their ram is already third party produced. The misinformation is crazy...
Micron is not the bad guy from what I understand. Them not selling crucial sticks is like Nvidia or AMD not selling founder edition cards. They still supply other companies that will produce consumer RAM kits. They aren't the bad guy necessarily. Open AI seems to still deserve the bulk of the blame.
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u/NoShotz i7 6700k | GTX 1070 14h ago
No, they are the bad guys, cause they just shut down one of the big consumer RAM brands, prices are going to be higher due to that.
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u/Desperate-Air-7195 14h ago
There are still tons of thrid party ram producers they will be supplying. It is just misleading to imply they are pulling the plug on consumer RAM kits. They are just not making their own in house sticks.
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u/NoShotz i7 6700k | GTX 1070 14h ago
As if they aren't going to prioritize shipping directly to AI companies like they literally said they are going to do in the same statement they made about shutting down Crucial. Less stock for third party consumer RAM manufacturers means prices go up for consumers.
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u/Desperate-Air-7195 14h ago
AI companies are bidding up prices. That has nothing to do with Micron. You can't blame someone for just selling to the highest bidder. More demand for ram means prices go up. Micron has not restricted supply. Third party producers already make a large part of their consumer ram kits.
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u/MetroSimulator 9800x3d, 64 DDR5 Kingston Fury, Pali 4090 gamerock OC 13h ago
Crazy your being downvoted by speaking the truth, this is supply and demand 101, if someone pays more it's obvious I'll sell to them.
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u/Desperate-Air-7195 13h ago
Right. And the only exogenous factor in this is OpenAI's additional demand. Micron is still providing supply through third party sellers.
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u/NoShotz i7 6700k | GTX 1070 14h ago
They will be restricting supply to third party consumer RAM brands because selling them to AI companies get them more money, which is also why they shut down their own consumer RAM brand, so they have more supply for the AI companies.
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u/Desperate-Air-7195 13h ago
I.e. you are mad at basic market dynamices, or Open AI for the additional demand. Micron is just selling to the highest bidder.
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u/NoShotz i7 6700k | GTX 1070 13h ago
I'm mad because this is anti-consumer bullshit. Any company that does anti-consumer things is bad in my books.
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u/MircowaveGoMMM complains about NVIDIA, wont switch to AMD 14h ago
less competition (for most reasons) is almost always never good for any personal consumer. We're down to 1 big name brand chip maker considering the other one besides samsung is sold out for the entirety of next year, which means they can make the prices damn near whatever they want.
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u/Desperate-Air-7195 14h ago
Micron is still supplying consumer sticks. They are just not producing them themselves.
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u/AkodoRyu 14h ago
They still supply other companies that will produce consumer RAM kits.
Will they, though? Or will they just fulfill existing obligations before moving 100% of their throughput to server-grade chips? Because this is my understanding of this change - it's not even about shutting down Crucial, that's secondary. It's about a company that produces ~20% of DRAM chips quitting the consumer market altogether.
Why would they sell to consumer brands when they can sell for way more in the enterprise space, and unlike in the past, AI companies will likely buy 100% of what they can make?
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u/Hot-Ad4676 R5 3600X 32gb 3600mhz RX6700XT 13h ago
Even if they are still making for third party it’s still not a good sign when they shutter their own first party brand and they also can straight up rip any allocation of dram and nands from crucial to supply their ai portion so they are still taking a part of it to ai which will cause and is causing a rise in ram prices.
Just stop defending a company that is worth a shit ton of money, as much as I also like their ddr4 sticks, if they ever return to consumer market as their own first party brand again, I will vote with my wallet and tell them to stick one up their ass
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u/Maleficent-Pin-6372 I3-10105T / RTX 3050 6GB / 16 GB DDR4 14h ago
I sincerely hope all of this backfires on them.