Class Action Suit Alleges Samsung, Micron And Hynix Colluded On DRAM Supply Causing Price Inflation

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Class Action Suit Alleges Samsung, Micron And Hynix Colluded On DRAM Supply Causing Price Inflation

A lawsuit seeking class action status was filed today in the US District Court for the Northern District of California by attorneys at the law firm of Hagens Berman, versus world's top three DRAM manufacturers, Samsung, Hynix and Micron. The class actions suit is being filed on behalf of US consumers of smartphones and personal computing products during the years of 2016 and 2017. The suit cites independent investigation by Hagens Berman antitrust attorneys that claims it was discovered that these major DRAM manufacturers colluded on limiting the supply of various DRAM products in the marketplace, thereby driving up prices on this specific memory type. DRAM is employed in just about any consumer or industrial device with a computing platform of any sort on board, from laptop and desktops computers, to smartphones and many other types of electronics.

The three defendant DRAM manufacturers collectively make up 96 percent of the global DRAM market share as of 2017, the price of which has jumped as much as 130 percent during the period detailed in the class action. Reportedly, during the same time period, revenues from the sales of DRAM at Samsung, Hynix and Micron more than doubled.

 

[UsandThem]

Wow, I didn't see that coming.

I think most people felt their was something not quite right on how quickly RAM prices climbed. Yes, I understand the demand increased because of smart phones, however there is no way RAM pricing should have increased roughly 3x on what it was selling at.

 

[corkyg]

Interesting. Proving it may not be as easy as alleging it. According to Alan Dershowitz, there is no law against collusion. Maybe conspiracy would be a better charge.

 

[UsandThem]

Interesting. Proving it may not be as easy as alleging it. According to Alan Dershowitz, there is no law against collusion. Maybe conspiracy would be a better charge.

In the end (probably 7-10 years from now), it will likely end up like the last time the DRAM manufacturers did it. In that case, consumers got very little back after all the attorneys took the lion's share:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DRAM_price_fixing

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Interesting. Proving it may not be as easy as alleging it. According to Alan Dershowitz, there is no law against collusion. Maybe conspiracy would be a better charge.

That's an issue of semantics whereby Dershowitz takes us off the highway of a general discussion and into the woods of nettles and thorns.

There are two agencies responsible for regulating the behavior of "imperfect competition": The Anti-Trust Division of the Justice Department, and the Federal Trade Commission.

Whatever the statutes call it, they took Bill Gates down a notch at the beginning of the millennium.

 

[aigomorla]

The next one will be a class action against MSI / GIGABYTE / ASUS on GPU prices during Bitcoin Craze.

 

[bigboxes]

I'll sign up. I've bought enough when the cost was high. It's like gasoline. You buy it if you need it. Of course, if they can prove collusion I'll take a check.

 

[sandorski]

Seems doubtful, but if it affects Prices in the next few weeks I'd be very pleased.

 

[dlerious]

In the end (probably 7-10 years from now), it will likely end up like the last time the DRAM manufacturers did it. In that case, consumers got very little back after all the attorneys took the lion's share:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DRAM_price_fixing

The thing that really sucks, is they make money hand over fist while it's going on and the fine ends up being a fraction of what they made from that behavior. There's no incentive not to do it.

 

[hal2kilo]

In the end (probably 7-10 years from now), it will likely end up like the last time the DRAM manufacturers did it. In that case, consumers got very little back after all the attorneys took the lion's share:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DRAM_price_fixing

Can't wait for my $.12.

 

[HutchinsonJC]

The next one will be a class action against MSI / GIGABYTE / ASUS on GPU prices during Bitcoin Craze.

Isn't most of the price hikes from resellers?

 

[dlerious]

Isn't most of the price hikes from resellers?

There's been rumors about distributors (like Ingram Micro) holding back shipments to keep the price high.