Dec 3 (Reuters) - Memory chipmaker Micron Technology said on Wednesday it will exit its consumer business, as it doubles down on advanced memory chips used in artificial intelligence data centers amid a global supply shortage of the essential semiconductors.
Shares of the company were down 2.6% in afternoon trading.
Micron's move to dissolve its consumer business comes against a backdrop of worldwide strain in memory supply chains, with tight availability of semiconductors ranging from flash chips used in smartphones to advanced high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, employed in AI data centers.
It will halt the sale of the "Crucial" unit's consumer-branded products at retailers, e-tailers and distributors worldwide, but will continue product shipments through the consumer channel until February 2026, Micron said.
This consumer memory unit is not an important driver of Micron's business, said Summit Insights analyst Kinngai Chan.
Micron has long been shifting focus to its HBM business, which has emerged as the most competitive area between the world's three largest memory suppliers: Micron and South Korea's S.K. Hynix and Samsung.
"The AI-driven growth in the data center has led to a surge in demand for memory and storage," said Sumit Sadana, chief business officer at Micron.
"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."
HBM — a type of dynamic random access memory — involves stacking chips vertically to reduce power consumption, helping process large volumes of data, making it invaluable in AI development. These chips are pricier than consumer memory and generally fetch lucrative margins.
In the August quarter, Micron's HBM revenue grew to nearly $2 billion, implying an annualized run rate of nearly $8 billion, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said in September.
(Reporting by Arsheeya Bajwa in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)
