Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron accused of conspiracy to manipulate DRAM prices
A class-action lawsuit is filed in California District Court against Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron Technology, which control nearly 100 percent of the global DRAM chip market. Companies are suspected of conspiring to manipulate the price of RAM.
The lawsuit alleges that memory chip makers have collectively cut DRAM chip shipments to the market, driving up the price of RAM as well as super-profits for semiconductor makers. The defendants in the case are the headquarters of Samsung Electronics, the company’s memory chip division, SK Hynix headquarters and its US subsidiary, and two subsidiaries of Micron Technology.
The law firm Hagens Berman represents the 14 individual parties’ class action against the above companies. According to the plaintiffs, they became victims of a monopoly conspiracy. They had to formalize the purchase of DRAM memory chips and laptops that use memory chips from the above manufacturers at artificially inflated prices resulting from an artificially caused shortage of DRAM chips.
Interestingly, in 2018 and 2019, Hagens Berman already filed a similar lawsuit against the indicated defendants amid a two-fold increase in memory prices from 2016 to 2017. Litigation over the first lawsuit ended last year in favor of the manufacturers, as Hagens Berman’s lawyers could not prove their case. Now they will try to take revenge.
Samsung accounted for 42.1% of DRAM shipments last year, according to analyst firm TrendForce. The supply shares of SK Hynix and Micron Technology amounted to 29.5 and 23%, respectively. The Korea Times reports that representatives from Samsung and SK Hynix declined to comment on the lawsuit.
