Lawsuit alleges Samsung, Micron, and Hynix colluded to drive up DRAM prices

A class-action lawsuit (PDF) filed in California alleges that Samsung, Micron, and Hynix colluded to raise the price of memory products by artificially restricting the supply of DRAM chips used in PCs and mobile products.

"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," said Steve Berman, managing partner of Hagens Berman, the law firm representing the plaintiffs. "Instead of playing by the rules, Samsung, Micron and Hynix chose to put consumers in a chokehold, wringing the market for more profit."

Samsung, Micron, and Hynix are the three largest memory chip makers in the world—it's estimated the trio held a 96 percent share of the DRAM market as recently as the middle of last year. According to the lawsuit, the companies agreed in 2016 to limit the supply of DRAM in an effort to raise prices. This caused "DRAM prices to skyrocket upward," according to the lawsuit.

"This isn’t the first time we’ve caught the DRAM industry in a scheme to squeeze more money out of consumers," Berman added. "We achieved a $300 million settlement for DRAM purchasers in a similar case, and we intend to prevail for consumers again."

Hagens Berman say the alleged price fixing scheme likely affected the cost of all modern computing devices sold from July 1, 2016 to February 1, 2018, including laptops and desktops sold by Acer, Apple, Asus, Dell, Lenovo, HP, Samsung, and many others. The same goes for smartphones.

We don't know if there was any foul play that took place in the time period specified in the lawsuit, though prices for DRAM products have gone up a large amount. In some cases, DDR4 memory kits are still selling for twice as much (or more) than they were a 18-24 months ago.

In the previous settlement that Hagens Berman refers to, none of the companies named admitted to any wrongdoing. However, Samsung did plead guilty to price fixing charges in 2005 that were brought on by the US Department of Justice. So did Hynix and Infineon Technologies.

"Three companies and five individuals have been charged and fines totaling more that $646 million have resulted from the Department's ongoing antitrust investigation into price fixing in the DRAM industry," the DoJ said at the time.

Hagens Berman has a form you can fill out to follow this case and join the lawsuit, if you purchased a DRAM product during the aforementioned dates.

Paul Lilly

Paul has been playing PC games and raking his knuckles on computer hardware since the Commodore 64. He does not have any tattoos, but thinks it would be cool to get one that reads LOAD"*",8,1. In his off time, he rides motorcycles and wrestles alligators (only one of those is true).

Latest in Memory
A photo of Corsair's Vengeance DDR5-8400 CUDIMM memory kit
Corsair Vengeance DDR5-8400 CUDIMM review
Corsair's personalized memroy on a gradient
Corsair's new 'personalised RAM' gives you the option to pick the look and speed of memory you hide in the case anyway
A promotional image showing multiple Corsair Vengeance CUDIMM memory sticks on a desk
Corsair rolls out its first CUDIMM memory sticks for Intel Arrow Lake gaming PCs and they're as pricey as you'd expect them to be
Corsair Vengeance RAM sticks
We've more or less hit RAM price equilibrium: this 32 GB 6000 MT/s DDR5 kit is closing in on the price of a comparable DDR4 kit
G.SKILL DDR5
G.SKILL and Kingston break the 12,000MT/s DDR5 memory barrier with Intel's new Arrow Lake CPU
A pair of Team Group DDR5-RAM kits against a teal background with a white border
Need some speedy DDR5 for a new build or gaming PC upgrade? This Team Group 32 GB kit is just $86
Latest in News
PC Gamer magazine issue 408 Doom: The Dark Ages
PC Gamer magazine's new issue is on sale now: Doom: The Dark Ages
A gigantic terracotta sentinel made of living armor
Total War: Warhammer 3's army of Cathay has broken containment and is making its way to tabletop Warhammer at last
Two brightly colored stormtroopers dressed like Run-DMC stand in front of PAX Australia's WELCOME HOME banner.
Tickets for PAX Australia 2025 are on sale now
An Enshrouded player in a recreation of Erebor from The Lord of the Rings
Kings under the Mountain! 33 Enshrouded players spent 10,000 hours to recreate this iconic location from The Lord of the Rings
A mech awakens.
Mecha Break developer is considering unlocking all mechs following open beta feedback
Lara Croft Unified Art
Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics lays off 17 employees 'to better align our current business needs and the studio's future success'