allison
you know i'd never stopped to consider how annoying tulip mania must have been for folks who just wanted to grow a few pretty flowers in their front garden https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/after-nearly-30-years-crucial-will-stop-selling-ram-to-consumers/
After nearly 30 years, Crucial will stop selling RAM to consumers

Micron cites AI data center demand as reason for killing DIY upgrade brand.

Ars Technica
Dec 3 at 9:01pmWeb
Show threadAnthony SoraceDec 3
@aparrish Oh, wow. Nearly all the (new) ram I’ve ever purchased has come from there. Nice (awful/sad/frustrating) comparison.
Show thread↑ TIMDec 3
@aparrish oh my fucking god
Show thread🌸 VårgubbenDec 3

@aparrish Not much of a PC builder myself, so I can relate more to the tulip analogy than the current issue.

That said, so this is what #post-consumerism looks like up close?

Show threadMike Dec 3
@aparrish wtf? I loved buying ram and SSDs from them.
Show threadNigelDec 3
@codemonkeymike @aparrish literally just built a new machine with crucial nvme and ram.
Show threadReid Dec 3
@aparrish I mean, we already saw this with cryptocurrency mining and GPUs
Show threadLisPiDec 4
@reiddragon @aparrish Eagerly awaiting for the AI crash.
Show threadtootbruteDec 3
@aparrish fuck. More reasons to hate AI
Show threadNantucket LitDec 3
@aparrish This is utterly ridiculous.
Show threadCaptain RealityDec 3

@aparrish Gaah! At least the crypto goons only wrecked the GPU market. Old fashioned types like me who only run databases and servers and such were left alone.

I wonder if "the market" will fix this by making consumer RAM available, but just more expensive. Or if consumer supply simply dries up because the AI goons and enterprise types have contracts to reserve everything produced on any new node for years.

Oh well, guess I'll keep my T480 with 32GB of RAM going forever then. (that was my plan anyway).

Show threadallisonDec 4
@captain_reality you know the bros are gonna churn through these AI servers constantly. all we gotta do is get into the data center ewaste piles and make our own DIMMs with desoldered SDRAM ICs
Show threadcroutonDec 4
@aparrish @captain_reality there's a chance that the ewaste will be declared proprietary as proprietary material passed through RAM whilst they were operating- with the aim of:
* preventing re-use (propping up prices for markets)
* creating opportunity for "businesses" to "securely dispose of proprietary material" (read: more grifters to get in on the action)
* exacerbating climate change through embedded carbon cost in manufacturing the ICs (just because)
Show threadJames HenstridgeDec 4
@captain_reality @aparrish For a while it looked like they were going to ruin the storage market with Chia, but thankfully that seems to have mostly gone away.
Show threadc-x-b  Dec 4

@captain_reality @aparrish

I wonder if "the market" will fix this by making consumer RAM available, but just more expensive. Or if consumer supply simply dries up because the AI goons and enterprise types have contracts to reserve everything produced on any new node for years.

a little bit of both, yes: https://youtu.be/9hLiwNViMak

Microcenter reportedly now sells RAM the way restaurants sell lobster - "market price"

RAM: WTF?

YouTube
Show threadGary HoustonDec 3
@aparrish I'm unclear why they can't just use some of the bubble money to build new RAM factories.
Show threadantimu0n 🤘 metal lynx ♿ 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️Dec 4
@ghouston @aparrish
building a new semiconductor fab costs the kind of money even these corpos can't just cough up on a whim and takes maybe ten years to get up and running, under normal circumstances. As it stands now, it's practically impossible because the entire supply chain is at the limit.
Show threadLukefromDCDec 4

@ghouston @aparrish Because those factories would be worthless by the time they were running. No way the AI bubble goes ten years without popping.

Also note that to build a new factory in some cases requires first building new factories to make the machines needed in the new factory,

For now, never overclock RAM and think twice about overclocking anything else if the RAM on your current board cannot be transferred to a currently sold new board and CPU.

Show threadsnowyfoxDec 3

"In his statement, Sadana reflected on the brand’s 29-year run."

That was not a reflection at all. It sounded like someone who doesn't care. Who thanks their loyal customers by refusing to sell anything to them anymore

Show threadc-x-b  Dec 4

@aparrish "hmm, there's rising sentiment that the AI boom - which is driving our current sales - is a bubble set to burst. like, even Bloomberg is starting to take that line. what should we do?"

"I know, close down the consumer brand to focus on filling the bubble spending"

idk I'm no MBA but this seems ill-advised

Show threadallisonDec 4
@cxberger on the one hand, analysts are calling it a bubble. on the other hand, like all of the richest people in the world are saying they're going to spend literally a trillion dollars on data centers in the next decade or whatever 🙃 (i'm not saying i like the idea of RAM manufacturers etc abandoning consumer markets, but i'm not surprised that Business Money Brains feel compelled to bet on the oligarchs)
Show threadAlexDec 4

@aparrish @cxberger

I hope this doesn't become a trend in other industries.

Show threadAllie!Dec 4
@adubya @aparrish @cxberger it’s a trend in basically every industry now, K-shaped economy is a real thing and accelerating.
Show threadDavid Chisnall (*Now with 50% more sarcasm!*)Dec 4

@cxberger @aparrish

My uninformed guess:

GPUs don’t use the same kind of memory as CPUs and so the big demand is causing them to shift production to GDDR. They can charge a premium here and rake in the cash in the short term.

Shuttering the Crucial brand for a bit gives them the opportunity to relaunch. When the bubble bursts, they can shift the factories over to DDR again and set prices based on what they expect to be able to sell, rather than having to be close to their prior price. If they put prices up by 4x now, everyone is unhappy. If they shutter the brand everyone is sad, but their competitors will be putting up their prices by 2-4x and making everyone sadder. If they time it right, they can relaunch Crucial at 1.5x current prices and everyone will say ‘yay, Crucial is so much cheaper than everyone else, I’m glad Micron saw sense and listened to their customers!’.

If they’re sensible, they still have a couple of lines producing DDR / LPDDR that they’re stockpiling so that they can sell at the lower price just as the bubble bursts and GPU demand craters, while everyone else rushes to switch their fans back to DDR.

Show threadChris A MoodyDec 4
@aparrish that sucks, I like their stuff.
Show threadCM ThiedeDec 4
@aparrish sad and disgusting
Show threadKevin RussellDec 4

@aparrish

Except this one is far more coercive and planned.

Show threadMidniteMikeWritesDec 4
@aparrish What a waste of a perfectly good business.
Show threadDean SegovisDec 4
@aparrish Well then fuck them. I hope they fail when the AI bubble bursts. Also, fuck AI.
Show threadfraggleDec 4
@aparrish I wonder if they'll quickly reverse that decision when the bubble collapses
Show threadLukefromDCDec 4
@fraggle @aparrish If the AI bubble bursts we may see 64GB of RAM sold for the cost of a couple cases of soda
Show threadChris FoxDec 5
@LukefromDC @fraggle @aparrish ... So, swapping one giant bubble for lots of tiny ones?
Show threadLukefromDCDec 5
@foxcj @fraggle @aparrish Indeed...
Show threadDoomsdaysCWDec 4
@aparrish Not good for #RightToRepair and #RepairCafes. Damn!
Show threadIliasDec 4

@aparrish

We will see them crawling back when the bubble pops.

Show threadBenjohnDec 4
@aparrish What it didn't say: "For Micron, the calculus is clear: Enterprise customers pay more and buy in bulk … so they can use that to offset their original brand and make it even healthier"
Show threadPeter BindelsDec 4

@aparrish At least the highest price ones were actually diseased.

Maybe the high end NV chips are the same but nobody knows yet?

Show threadJohnsDec 4
@aparrish Well, goodbye then. It's a shame because I really like their products but, as always, someone will come out and fill the hole they leave.
Show threadRasmus LindegaardDec 5

@aparrish damn it!

Fuck you AI datacenter bastards!

Show threadSpace Catitude 🚀Dec 8

@aparrish

At least they aren't the only RAM retailer. I just hope this doesn't catch on as a trend.

Show threadShannon ClarkDec 8
@aparrish My immediate thought is I wonder if this will spark a rise in used computer parts certifications/reselling? Seems like there has to be a good business there for someone to fill the likely still present demand for parts from individuals (and smaller businesses not building out enterprise scale AI data farms)
Show threadkcǃDec 8
@aparrish💯