Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Micron Announces Exit from Crucial Consumer Business

investors.micron.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 407 posts

Re: Micron Announces Exit from Crucial Consumer Business

#151

Post by cogman10 »

derefr wrote: post #145
cogman10 wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that works in the situation of fabs. They are big and expensive pieces of tech with the latest fabs being the most expensive to construct. You can't exactly break up a chip manufacturer when they have just 1 or 2 plants tooled for the latest memory. IMO, recognizing chip fabrication as a national security asset and turning it into a public corporation would be the better way to go. Let the likes of inte…

I mean, to take that one step further, if the underlying process-node technology (e.g. EUV) were nationalized, then you an entire nation-state's budget (and ability to get cheap loans) could be thrown at the problem of rapid horizontal buildout of fab capacity. Economics similar to nuclear power generation.

Exactly. And even if it ultimately doesn't turn a profit (which, who knows, it probably will turn a profit) you've still created a pretty favorable circumstance for chip manufacturers.

There's a reason why basically only Intel does inhouse fabrication and even they have had to rely out outsourcing it.

Re: Micron Announces Exit from Crucial Consumer Business

#152

Post by echelon »

venturecruelty wrote: post #69
walterbell wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Should countries have a upper limit on the ratio of server:client memory supply chain capacity? If no one can buy client hardware to access the cloud, how would cloud providers survive after driving their customers to extinction? It shouldn't be possible for one holding company (OpenAI) to silently buy all available memory wafer capacity from Samsung and SK Hynix, before the rest of civilization even has the opportun…

We can prevent this from happening by enforcing 100-year-old antitrust laws.

This is just supply and demand.

Antitrust laws can/should be applied to, eg., Google for search and web monopolization.

If someone is willing to pay more than you for a limited supply of some resource, that isn't a market monopoly.

Re: Micron Announces Exit from Crucial Consumer Business

#153

Post by neilv »

pmontra wrote: post #118
neilv wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder why they didn't pull a GE, and sell/license the brand. But I'm glad they didn't.

Maybe they keep the brand to resurrect it some years in the future when the surge of data centers has faded away and they'll have to find custumers between consumers.

I like this theory. I'd forgotten that of course a company like that thinks further into the future than many software companies do/can.

Re: Micron Announces Exit from Crucial Consumer Business

#154

Post by pizlonator »

bpye wrote: post #33
httpz wrote: post #28

I'm half joking but if this AI boom continues we're going to see Nvidia exit from consumer GPU business. But Jensen Huang will never do that to us... (I hope)

I think Nvidia realises that selling GPUs to individuals is useful as it allows them to develop locally with CUDA.

This is a huge reason.

Re: Micron Announces Exit from Crucial Consumer Business

#155

Post by jauntywundrkind »

LargoLasskhyfv wrote: post #58
Animats wrote: post #10

Wow. They're not selling off the business, they're totally exiting it. This is a big loss. Crucial offered a supply chain direct from Micron. Most other consumer DRAM sources pass through middlemen, where fake parts and re-labeled rejects can be inserted.

There is KLEVV, the outlet of SK Hynix. They are crass! https://www.klevv.com/ken/main And don't forget about https://www.nanya.com/en/ While I never had a problem with https://semiconductor.samsung.com/dram/module/ , I think they will be rare/more expensive now, or 'soonish'. For chinese CXMT and YMTC there is https://www.biwintech.com/ We live in interesting times! (Cackling madly...)

With ram, you can verify pretty quick what you are getting.

I really wouldn't want to buy any NAND vendor until a bunch of years after they build a reputation. It's too scary to get a decent bargain SSD drive that actually oh secretly dies really early, doesn't actually have anywhere near the endurance it claims.

Re: Micron Announces Exit from Crucial Consumer Business

#156

Post by tarlinian »

kvemkon wrote: post #107
LargoLasskhyfv wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is KLEVV, the outlet of SK Hynix. They are crass! https://www.klevv.com/ken/main And don't forget about https://www.nanya.com/en/ While I never had a problem with https://semiconductor.samsung.com/dram/module/ , I think they will be rare/more expensive now, or 'soonish'. For chinese CXMT and YMTC there is https://www.biwintech.com/ We live in interesting times! (Cackling madly...)

> KLEVV Just looked at standard desktop: still no 64GB 5600MT/s modules. CUDIMMs are missing 32GB. > And don't forget about Nanya BTW, what is the status of Elpida now?

Elpida was purchased by Micron after the financial crisis (they bought it out of bankdruptcy for a swan song in 2013). Much of the Micron DRAM you might buy is made at the former Elipida fab in Hiroshima.

Re: Micron Announces Exit from Crucial Consumer Business

#157

Post by axiolite »

linguae wrote: post #139

I'm sad. I'm a software guy, not much of a hardware expert, so please bear with me if I"m too pessimistic. However, I feel that if trends like this continue, it might be the end of enthusiast-level personal computing as we know it. No more being able to head down to the electronics store and purchase RAM, motherboards, processors, GPUs, storage, and other components. We're going to be limited to locked-down terminals…

I've seen things going the opposite way. It's only recently that an average person could jump on eBay and get assembled low-level electronic module/boards for cheap, and assemble into their project.

Yes, you'll probably have difficulty walking into a STORE to buy PC components, but only because online shopping has been killing local shops for decades now. You'll find it easy to get that stuff online, for better prices.

PCs, since the very start, have been going through a process of being ever more integrated each generation. Not too many people install sound cards, IDE controllers, etc., anymore. CPUs, GPUs, and RAM are about the only holdouts not integrated on the motherboard these days. It's possible that could change, if CPUs and GPUs becomes fast enough for 99% of people, and RAM gets cheap enough that manufacturers can put more on-board than 99% of people will need. And while you might not be happy about that kind of integration, it comes with big price reductions that help everyone. But we're not there yet, and I can't say how long down the road that might be.

Re: Micron Announces Exit from Crucial Consumer Business

#158

Post by lotsofpulp »

michaelt wrote: post #121
theelous3 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The people who occupy the b2b ram buying kind of jobs are not aliens from another planet. Brand awareness in consumer markets, especially ones that are so closely tied to people's jobs (nerds gonna nerd) is going to have a knock on effect. It's not like a clothing brand or something.

Sometimes reputation and suchlike in the consumer market can directly boost your B2B business. Consumers and professionals alike will look at backblaze drive reliability figures. Other times professionals will sneer at a consumer product, or a consumer product can diminish your brand. Nobody's wiring a data centre with Monster Cables, and nobody's buying Cisco because they were impressed by Linksys.

Not that it invalidates your point, but Cisco sold Linksys in 2013.

Re: Micron Announces Exit from Crucial Consumer Business

#159

Post by linguae »

UncleOxidant wrote: post #117
sheepscreek wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are rerouting RAMs for consumers to enterprise for server build up - for higher margins I’m sure. MAG7 will happily pay more but poor consumers like us can’t - this is more bad news for us.

Wondering if we're going to have a situation in the future where we end up having to buy the hand-me-downs from industry after they're done with them (and thus kind of outdated tech)? Kind of seems like the days of building your own PC are numbered.

Even the hand-me-down situation has been changing. I remember in the 2010s being able to shop at Weird Stuff in Sunnyvale, which was a treasure trove of old enterprise equipment, a heavenly place for a retrocomputing enthusiast like me. I even bought accessories for my NeXTstation there! The shop kept the good retro stuff in the back away from the general public for people who asked kindly about retro gear :). I saw some 1980s and 1990s classic Macs, too, in the restricted area.

Unfortunately Weird Stuff is a thing of the past, though this had less to do with a reduced supply of surplus and more to do with Silicon Valley’s high real estate prices. Thankfully there are still good stuff to be found at e-waste recyclers, but if more companies are relying on the cloud, and if more devices are integrated boards with everything soldered on (such as most modern Apple hardware), the hand-me-downs of the future are going to be harder to work on than today’s hand-me-downs. I’m just an average software guy whose hardware experience is limited to a graduate-level computer architecture course and building PCs. I can talk about caching and branch prediction, but I’ve never picked up a soldering iron in my life; I’m no Louis Rossmann.

Re: Micron Announces Exit from Crucial Consumer Business

#160

Post by bilegeek »

palmotea wrote: post #5

When richer people than you want things, those things can become unavailable to you (or at least less available). I really hope this bubble pops, all these investors lose their shirts, and prices come down to something reasonable.

Once the bubble pops, there will be a recession, lots of regular people will lose their jobs and won't be able to afford anything even IF prices come down.

They've got you coming and going.

Post reply on HN