DRAM giants Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron sued in US over alleged price‑fixing

A class‑action lawsuit was filed in a California federal court accusing the three largest DRAM manufacturers—Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and Micron Technology—of colluding to raise memory prices. Fourteen individual consumers and several small‑scale computer retailers allege the firms coordinated price increases and deliberately restricted supply of older DDR3 and DDR4 modules while shifting production to high‑bandwidth memory (HBM) for AI applications. The complaint claims DRAM prices have surged up to 700 % over four years, driving higher costs for laptops, smartphones, tablets and other electronic devices.

If the court permits the case to proceed as a nationwide class action and the plaintiffs prevail, the companies could be ordered to pay triple the actual losses, potentially resulting in multibillion‑dollar liabilities. A ruling could also set a precedent for stricter antitrust scrutiny of the global semiconductor supply chain, affecting downstream hardware manufacturers and retail pricing worldwide.