DRAM Industry Price Fixing

A multi-national cartel investigation found that major DRAM manufacturers colluded to fix memory prices from July 1998 to June 2002. U.S. prosecutors secured guilty pleas from several firms (Hynix, Infineon, Micron Technology, Samsung and Elpida) and convicted individuals; fines included Infineon ($160 million), Hynix ($185 million) and a $300 million criminal fine tied to Samsung, while a Micron employee pleaded guilty to obstruction. European regulators later fined nine manufacturers more than €331 million in 2010, though Micron received immunity for cooperating. A Samsung manager, Sun Woo Lee, received an 8‑month prison term and a $250,000 fine; despite conviction, he later rose to senior regional posts.

After a 2016-2018 DRAM price surge - market DRAM prices nearly tripled and retail PC RAM costs roughly doubled - a class action filed in April 2018 against Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron was dismissed by the district court and that dismissal was upheld by the Ninth Circuit in March 2022 for failing to plead plausible antitrust claims. In June 2026 a new class action alleges renewed collusion by coordinating a production shift from DDR3/DDR4 to HBM, asserting roughly 700% price increases over the prior four years; that claim remains pending.