Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron—three major chip manufacturers—are named in a class action lawsuit accusing the trio of price fixing and market manipulation.
Garciaguirre et al. v. Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. et al. was filed on June 25 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The plaintiffs are represented by Bathaee Dunne LLP, a firm that specialises in tech-focused lawsuits (Law360, via Rock Paper Shotgun).
"The DRAM oligopolists have simultaneously cut production, coordinated a pivot to HBM and exit from DDR3 and DDR4, and otherwise decreased and locked up conventional DRAM supply while prices charged up with mind-blowing scale and rapidity," reads the suit. "Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron continue to squeeze conventional DRAM supply, simultaneously and publicly directing their resources towards less profitable-per-die HBM - or in some cases, simply junking conventional DRAM supply channels altogether."
The suit essentially alleges that any normal company would take advantage of a market where prices were rapidly rising, forcing their competitors to meet them on the commercial battlefield, as it were. Instead, the suit alleges the trio have coordinated to simultaneously exit the market, causing prices to skyrocket as supply...
