US lawsuit accuses Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron of worsening the RAM crisis by fixing memory prices and supply
www.rockpapershotgun.com
Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron have been accused of fixing RAM prices and supply, thereby exacerbating the memory crisis, in US anti-trust lawsuit.

The lawsuit is small in scale so far, but if the court accepts the plaintiffs’ claims and formally approves it as a class action, it could expand. Bathaee Dunne, the antitrust law firm representing the plaintiffs, is aiming for a class action representing all general consumers and businesses that purchased products containing D-RAM. The firm previously won a case alleging collusion in Google’s digital advertising. If the plaintiffs ultimately prevail in the class action, the defendant companies would have to pay triple the damages.

The fact that Samsung Electronics and SK hynix have previously been found guilty of collusion in the United States is also a concern. Both companies were found to have engaged in price fixing in the US in the early 2000s, resulting in large fines as well as prison sentences for executives. However, industry players including investment bank Jefferies forecast that the lawsuit will not affect memory prices at least until the end of this year.

    • MasterBlaster@lemmy.worldEnglish
      9·
      8 hours ago

      Interesting. The story I’ve been hearing is it’s a supply problem caused a massive demand for the Nvidia AI chips and the ultra-fast RAM they require.

      I just saw a report from SK Hynix (that triggered chip stock selloffs) that they were dialing back on production for the next generation NVidia chips. The market figured that was evidence of soft demand.

      Turns out that was because those were delayed, so they decided to build more of the lower speed RAM, which I think is the stuff consumers are needing. Working from memory here, so details are likely off.

      Anyway, the problem may be more about producing for the most profitable market rather than price fixing.

      I look forward to the outcome. It will be nice to know the situation from an objective source.

      Full disclosure, I own shares of FKLR which is an ETF of the South Korean market index that is dominated by these two companies.

      It’s doing poorly just now due to that report I mentioned and a bunch of other things.