- Micron has pulled the plug on its Crucial consumer RAM
- It’s focusing on making RAM modules for data centers instead
- There are further tales of trouble in the memory world besides this, and also rumors of AMD Ryzen CPU price hikes
Predictions for the pricing of PC components are becoming bleaker by the day, and now there’s a bunch of fresh gloom settling on the mountainous pile of doom – the gloomiest news being that Micron is shutting down its consumer RAM division.
That means the end of the road for Micron’s Crucial RAM sticks, which have long been popular in the world of PCs.
As PC Gamer flagged, Micron issued a statement to say: “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.”
In other words, the company is focusing on making far more profitable memory modules for data centers.
Micron notes that it will “continue Crucial consumer product shipments through the consumer channel until the end of fiscal Q2 (February 2026).”
After February of next year, whatever’s left on shelves, or in warehouses, will still be left to sell through, but after that, there’ll be no more Crucial RAM.
Want more RAM doom nuggets? I know you don’t, not really, but here goes: what about Samsung refusing to sell itself RAM? It sounds ridiculous, but it’s true, and as PC World reports, this is about Samsung Semiconductor Global (which makes Samsung’s memory chips) not selling to Samsung Electronics, which wants RAM for its Galaxy smartphones (and also tablets, laptops, and so on).
I say ‘not selling’ but the nuance here is that Samsung Electronics wanted a contract to secure supply and pricing for a full year ahead, and that longer-term deal was rejected, with Samsung Semiconductor insisting on renegotiating quarterly (possibly including some hefty price jumps through the year).
Then there’s TeamGroup, a big memory manufacturer offering many flavors of PC RAM sticks, which as Tom’s Hardware highlighted, said that contract DRAM pricing has almost doubled recently – and that supply is set to worsen in 2026. According to TeamGroup, things may not get back to normal for memory until 2027 or even 2028.
Switching tack now, there’s also a rumor that CPU prices are getting hiked, at least on the AMD side.
OC3D reports that its industry sources claim AMD Ryzen processors have been hiked as of the start of December, and that this applies to all CPUs, from the Ryzen 9000 series downwards.
Now, we haven’t seen any price increases for Ryzen processors this week – beyond Black Friday sale prices disappearing, that is, which complicates the issue somewhat here – but as OC3D makes clear, this is the cost down the supply chain (at distributors).
So, the effect won’t be felt immediately for consumers, but it’s in the pipeline for products on shelves at retailers. (Although we must take this report with plenty of seasoning, naturally – and all of the points discussed here, which remain rumors for now).
Analysis: Crucial considerations if mulling a new PC or component upgrade
If the grapevine is right, as 2026 kicks off we could see Ryzen CPU price hikes, on top of AMD Radeon GPU price increases, and there are separate rumors about Nvidia graphics cards, too. GPUs are affected by the increased cost of memory, of course, as they use video RAM, so that fully makes sense.
Why CPU prices might rise is another question, and one OC3D doesn’t attempt to address (which makes the report feel a little sketchy).
Still, even if Ryzen CPUs aren’t saddled with those rumored hikes, GPUs and memory most certainly are. Memory means storage – SSDs – too, but we most clearly see the current effects of memory supply woes when it comes to RAM sticks, which have rocketed in price. Recently we’ve witnessed a doubling, or even trebling, of the cost of many RAM kits for PCs, with even Black Friday providing little to no relief.
What’s my current buying advice given all this? It feels very much like you should pull the trigger on a GPU now, or in a holiday sale, which may be the last chance to get a decent price (relative to MSRP). It’s a similar case for SSDs, which have seen some substantial price increases already – but I have a feeling things could get considerably worse for those drives, and there will almost certainly be further meaningful price hikes in 2026 for storage.
With RAM, the horse has already bolted in terms of the huge price rises that have been the story of the past few months. Given a lot of the worst fresh news is around RAM, though – and with the exit of the Crucial brand raising questions about how other memory makers might treat their consumer offerings – it may not be a terrible idea to buy system RAM now, at least not compared to mid-2026, say, providing you can still find something that doesn’t look awfully inflated (some of the prices are truly ridiculous now, and you should never pay exorbitant amounts, of course).
What about entire systems, though? If you’re already firmly set on the idea of building a new desktop PC, you might want to pick up the components very soon, aside from RAM as noted – it could be a good idea to consider recycling the system memory in your current PC, if feasible, for the time being until pricing improves. That may not be until 2027 or even 2028, though, as noted above.
However, right now, if you want a new PC, building isn’t really the way to go – the better option is to buy a prebuilt desktop. This is because there’s still stock of prebuilt PCs to be had at relatively affordable prices – built using components purchased in bulk before the soaring RAM prices took effect – and this is really the best road to travel for many.
There are a lot of plus points to buying rather than building anyway, in terms of overall warranty coverage and customer support, as well as eliminating the risks of things going wrong (frying key components while assembling the build, for example).
In short, if you’re after a new desktop PC, you need to get it now – and think carefully about a prebuilt – or be prepared to spend next year with your existing computer and waiting until 2027 for an upgrade (which is exactly what we’re hearing from PC makers themselves). And for GPU and storage upgrades, again, the best time is likely to be now or in the next month or so.
I’ve got a feeling we’re going to be hearing more tales of woe from the PC components arena before 2025 is out. As the AI market continues to boom, consumers will continue to get a raw deal, and I can’t see anything but more ‘booming’ for AI in the near-to-mid future.
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