On October 17 local time, Reuters reported, citing two informed sources, that the U.S. memory chip giant Micron is planning to exit its server chip business in data centers in China.

Informed sources said that Micron plans to stop supplying server chips to Chinese data centers, but will continue to supply chips to two major Chinese customers with significant data center operations outside of China. The sources also said that in the previous fiscal year, Micron's revenue from mainland China was approximately $3.4 billion, accounting for 12% of its global total revenue. In the future, Micron will continue to sell chips to customers in the automotive and smartphone sectors in the Chinese market.

Regarding the withdrawal from the Chinese data center business, Micron responded in a statement: "We have a strong operational foundation and customer network in China, and China remains an important market for Micron and the entire semiconductor industry." Micron also mentioned in the statement that its data center business department has been affected by reviews from Chinese authorities, but the company claims it has always complied with applicable regulations in the regions where it operates.

As early as March 2023, according to a message on the WeChat official account "Cybersecurity China," to ensure the security of critical information infrastructure supply chain, prevent product issues from causing cybersecurity risks, and safeguard national security, the Cybersecurity Review Office implemented a cybersecurity review on products sold by Micron (Micron) in China in accordance with the "National Security Law of the People's Republic of China" and the "Cybersecurity Law of the People's Republic of China," as stipulated in the "Cybersecurity Review Measures."

Reuters analyzed that China, as the world's second-largest server memory market, the review directly caused Micron to miss the explosive growth opportunity in Chinese data centers. According to reports, investment in data centers used for computing in China increased nine times in 2023, reaching 24.7 billion yuan. This gap brought benefits to domestic storage companies in China, during which time enterprises represented by Yangtze Memory and Changxin Memory seized the opportunity to actively expand.

According to financial data previously released by Micron, in the fourth quarter of the 2025 fiscal year ending August 28, Micron's revenue reached $11.32 billion, a 46% increase compared to the previous year, which was $1.18 billion. For the full 2025 fiscal year, Micron's revenue reached $37.378 billion. Among these, HBM used for AI data processing is one of Micron's highest-profit products. Including HBM provided to data center customers, the cloud storage business (CMBU) focused on serving large-scale cloud computing customers had revenue of $4.543 billion, a 213.5% increase compared to the same period last year.

Micron's solid-state drive products for data centers. Image sourced from the company's official website.

On the other hand, informed sources also mentioned that Micron's data center team in China has more than 300 employees. However, it is currently unclear how many positions will be affected by this business adjustment.

Notably, the South China Morning Post recently reported in August that Micron initiated a new round of layoffs in China, mainly involving departments related to mobile NAND products. Previously, due to the long-term weak market situation of mobile NAND products and continued poor financial performance, Micron had announced the cessation of development of mobile NAND products globally. Subsequently, the company carried out layoffs in its China business department, involving R&D, testing, and support positions. An unnamed employee at the time stated that this round of layoffs involved over 300 positions.

Additionally, Micron is not the first multinational technology company to adjust its business in China. This year, several well-known technology companies, including IBM, Microsoft, and Amazon, have made adjustments to their businesses in China.

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Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7562112322601320975/

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