Monday, April 30th 2018
Samsung, Micron, and Hynix Accused of DRAM Price Fixing
Law firm Hagens Berman has filed a class action lawsuit against Samsung, Micron, and Hynix in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. According to the firm's investigation, the three DRAM manufacturers conspired to limit the supply of DRAM chips between 2016 and 2017 with the purpose of inflating their prices. The firm affirmed that DRAM saw a 47 percent increase in price during 2017, which made it the largest jump ever in the last 30 years. As noted by the filing, Samsung, Micron and Hynix collectively own 96 percent of the worldwide DRAM market as of 2017. The "conduct changed abruptly" when the Chinese government launched an investigation to look into the matter. This class action is opened to consumers in the U.S. who've purchased a device that uses DRAM between July 1, 2016 and February 1, 2018.
"What we've uncovered in the DRAM market is a classic antitrust, price-fixing scheme in which a small number of kingpin corporations hold the lion's share of the market," stated Hagens Berman managing partner Steve Berman. "Instead of playing by the rules, Samsung, Micron and Hynix chose to put consumers in a chokehold, wringing the market for more profit."
This isn't Hagens Berman's first time to the rodeo either. The firm had previously achieved a $300 million settlement for consumers who paid high prices for DRAM back in 2006. Samsung and Hynix pleaded guilty to the charges and paid a collective sum of $731 million in criminal fines, and both DRAM manufacturers served a collective 3,185 days of jail time.
Source:
AppleInsider
"What we've uncovered in the DRAM market is a classic antitrust, price-fixing scheme in which a small number of kingpin corporations hold the lion's share of the market," stated Hagens Berman managing partner Steve Berman. "Instead of playing by the rules, Samsung, Micron and Hynix chose to put consumers in a chokehold, wringing the market for more profit."
49 Comments on Samsung, Micron, and Hynix Accused of DRAM Price Fixing
Ill bet my kneecap that they have made some level of "gentleman agreement" over a dinner or a skypecall (it does take more than 5 seconds to say: "Are you in? follow my lead!" :D
hereRaevenlord didn't seem real happy here.
And here btarunr mentioned the problem too, although in the context of cryptomining boom.So, yeah. Maybe they didn't see the need for editorials. It's been talked about and discussed all over TPU...
The only option is for some government to fine them really hard as a percentage of company revenue (not profit) and to monitor them for 10 years.
On any small misbehavior the fine should be automatically applied once more without aditional court order or something else.
For example for Hynix which as per wiki it does 15.98 B revenue and 3.67 B profit a good fine would be 5%*15.98B=0.799 Billion.
Holly molly, now that I look at this company they make shitload of profit for the revenue.
I'm not in finance but that 22% percent profit reported to revenue seems huge doesn't it?
A coincidence, for sure, but quite an unfortunate one for AMD.
Of course, it is much more likely that, should the courts find them guilty, the fine could be quite the number. Hundreds of millions, maybe. I, for one, want to see a massive fine applied on each of them. And some prison time too.
I'm more for prices coming down.
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