34 Antitrust Suits Against DRAM Manufacturers Inbound @ DailyTech

[werty316]

Could this big a big conspiracy? WHo knows but at least Samsung wasn't included which is odd since I think they are the largest manufacturer out of the companies listed.

Source (http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=3314)
[qute]If the major DRAM manufacturers fixed prices from 1998 to 2002, they're about to pay for it

A saga that has been cumulating for the last eight years is about to take another major step. Seven of the major eight DRAM manufacturers will face a major antitrust complaint filing tomorrow lead by Attorney General Bill Lockyer. Lockyer's filing for the State of California will be followed by additional suites in thirty-three more states shortly after.

The complaint claims that a between 1998 and 2002 seven manufactures colluded to "fix DRAM chip prices, artificially restrain supply, allocate among themselves the production of DRAM chips and markets for the chips, and rig bids for DRAM chip contracts." When the complaints are filed tomorrow, July 14, the following companies will be named:

* Elpida Memory (Japan)
* Hynix Semiconductor (South Korea)
* Infineon Technologies AG (Germany)
* Micron Technology (USA)
* Mosel Vitelic (Taiwan)
* Nanya Technology Corp. (Taiwan)
* NEC Electronics America (USA)
[/quote]

[Kougar]

Samsung isn't on that list probably because Samsung already admitted to price fixing and paid the usual large lump sums of millions in fines for it either late last year or earlier this year, I forget which. I don't recall for what years the fixing was stating as having occured though...

[Bio-Hazard]

I thought that there were 3 companies that were filed against in the last suit.

Hynix, Infineon and Samsung. I could be wrong though.

Infineon Fined for DRAM Price Fixing
Memory maker will pay $160 million in fines, DOJ says.

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,117792,00.asp

Japanese DRAM (dynamic RAM) manufacturer Elpida Memory Inc. has agreed to plead guilty and pay a US$84 million fine for participating in an "international conspiracy" to fix DRAM prices, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Monday.

http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/01/30/74898_HNdrampricefixing_1.html?BACKUP%20AND%20RECO VERY

Samsung Execs Plead Guilty in DRAM Price Fixing

http://www.reed-electronics.com/electronicnews/article/CA6318199.html

In May 2005, South Korean manufacturer Hynix Semiconductor Inc. agreed to plead guilty ... Listed below are links to sites that reference DRAM Price Fixing:


WASHINGTON, D.C. - Three executives from Samsung Electronics Company Ltd., the world's largest manufacturer of a common computer component called dynamic random access memory (DRAM), have agreed to plead guilty and to serve jail time in the United States for participating in a global conspiracy to fix DRAM prices, the Department of Justice announced.

The Korean executives participated in the price-fixing conspiracy while they worked for Samsung, or its subsidiaries in the United States and Europe. The three pleading individuals and their agreed upon jail terms are as follows:

http://sanfrancisco.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/2006/sf032206a.htm

[Kougar]

Yeah, you're right Sbrehm. So if most of these companies have been fined and have had execs sent to jail over this, why is California planning to file suit?

Samsung: http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=1395 (http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=1395)

Hynix: http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=1068 (http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=1068)

And I wonder how this will work, since Infineon has gotten out of the DRAM business, spinning it off as Qimonda? http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=1563 (http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=1563)

[Bio-Hazard]

I really think the Cali suit regarding the already settled companies is just a news maker, the companies can't be suied for the same exact thing twice............:) And the first was done by the US Feds, Cali is just a sue happy state anyway...........;)

[GIBSON]

It's kind of gay that the money goes to the state though. It were the end-users who paid too much, not the state!

[werty316]

I think it started out as a plan to kill Rambus RDRAM. The original plan was for Samsung, the primary maker of RDRAM (and the others also ... Toshiba, NEC, Infineon all did make RDRAM) to keep it sky-high (128MB was $1,000) while SDRAM and DDR were to be priced below cost until Intel gave in and agreed to drop RDRAM as a supported memory type for the Pentium 4 CPU chipsets. Then the price of SDRAM and DDR went through the roof.