Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron Technology are being sued by seventeen plaintiffs in the California Northern District Court, who allege that the three tech manufacturers are colluding to artificially increase the price of RAM.
Seventeen individual plaintiffs, including three small businesses, have launched a class action lawsuit in the Northern District of California against the three largest RAM and chip manufacturers in the world: Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron Technology. The plaintiffs allege that the three tech companies are colluding to raise the prices of RAM by keeping supplies artificially low, blaming it all on an AI data center-driven “RAMpocalypse” rather than corporate policy.
The Garciaguirre et al v. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. et al case was filed earlier this week, on June 25, in the California Northern District Court, and lists three small computer retailers, Troy’s Computers LLC, JB Tech Solutions LLC, and WNTD Fab LLC, among its seventeen plaintiffs.
The plaintiffs claim that Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron Technology are essentially part of a cartel that is collaborating to inflate DRAM and chip prices by controlling the overwhelming majority of the market. While proving that will obviously be a lot harder than alleging it, it’s no secret that the three companies own roughly 90 percent of the DRAM market.
And it’s no secret that Samsung and SK Hynix have been previously indicted for doing exactly what the plaintiffs are accusing them of doing now. In 2005, two Samsung executives and one Hynix America executive were indicted by a San Francisco jury for DRAM price-fixing and “bid-rigging.”
Bid-rigging can take many forms, but in this example, Samsung and Hynix America were accused of “issuing price quotations in accordance with the agreements reached” during private meetings, and “agreeing during those meetings and telephone conversations to charge prices of DRAM at certain levels to be sold to certain [original equipment manufacturers]” in the United States.
more links: https://wccftech.com/memory-trio-samsung-sk-hynix-micron-face-class-action-lawsuit/
I mean, yeah, of course they are. With that said, they would be absolutely stupid to do so explicitly. If they actually find evidence during discovery, that just means management is dumb as rocks. So… They might.
They’ve been caught before, which would make getting caught a second time even more embarrassing
And me, without any knowledge of this story, I’m going to weigh in with a hunch.
I haven’t read the story. I never heard of the previous story. I read your comment, and thats it.
So…here’s my hunch.
They were caught doing this before, weren’t given any REAL reprocussions. Nothing that would discourage them from keeping at it. They never stopped price fixing, and they just write off any fines for getting caught as the price of doing business.
So. How’d I do? Did I get it 100% right?
Well hold on now.
That’s basically exactly what happened during the RAM cartel of the early 2000’s. I think one guy went to jail for like 6 months, but other than that, yeah.
He also went straight to a similar company in another executive position after he was out. There’s definitely no way he continued to do the exact same thing at the other company he went to. No way at all.
The only way this succeeds if is Micron betrays the other two like last time and makes a better desl for themselves in exchange for being a snitch.
Otherwise they won’t be able to gather enough evidence for a quick trial and this will last close to a decade before each company agrees to some penny handouts.
Unless they’re really dumb and didn’t learn to hide their collusion from the last time they did this.
Gambling, you say?!
In the casino?!!!
“Oh no, we’re gonna get fined a hundred million for the extra couple-hundred-billion we made by price fixing & collusion. Oh nooooo… 💸”
I read that in the voice of the cable company in South Park
Yep.
When fines are nothing but a fraction of a fraction of the money made, then it ceases to be a fine, and just becomes an evil tax.
Which is why businesses should face fines based on their income, starting at 50% of yearly earnings, and going up to at least 300% of their yearly earnings.
Bad behavior won’t change until you threaten their profits.
Weirdly enough, business would advance or develope if there wasn’t something to be gained. Or funded, and you need an excess of liquid cash to fund new things.
It is a weird cycle, and I agree not good. It is just weird how intertwined it all is.
Judge checks notes: hmmm no, actually it’s just capitalism.
don’t worry every1 hehe theyll slide some checks praise the orange stain a little and itll be just fine for the shareholders