- A lawsuit alleges that RAM vendors colluded to fix memory prices
- It says they did this by switching production to more expensive HBM
- But I doubt the lawsuit will make memory cheaper for consumers
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll probably know that PC component prices are out of control right now. The cost of computer memory is one of the worst hit, making upgrading your PC almost impossible for all but the five richest kings in Europe.
Now it seems that some people feel that there is something deeply sinister about all these price increases. In fact, a recently filed lawsuit has claimed that the world’s leading RAM manufacturers – Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron – colluded to deliberately limit memory supply and drive up prices as a result.
According to the filing (via AppleInsider), the three named companies shifted production capacity away from DRAM modules like DDR3 and DDR4 — that is, the type of memory used in phones, computers, tablets and other consumer devices — to HBM, which is used in artificial intelligence (AI) data centers and is sold at a higher price. With lower supply, memory prices rose accordingly.
On the face of it, it’s not illegal – companies are allowed to make strategic decisions to maximize profits if they want to. But what the lawsuit alleges is that this move was a concerted, coordinated decision between the three firms, rather than each reacting to market conditions.
Because they have a stranglehold on the RAM market (up to 89% of DRAM market share and 100% of HBM market share according to Counterpoint Research), the allegations of coordination – if proven – could constitute illegal conduct, potentially including price fixing.
Will this end the RAMpocalypse?
If you’re reading this and are desperate for some good news amidst all the doom and gloom of PC components, you might be hoping that a positive verdict in this lawsuit would open the door to lower memory prices and go some way toward bringing costs back down to reasonable levels.
Unfortunately, that outcome is unlikely. The lawsuit hasn’t proven anything yet, and showing without a doubt that Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron colluded to screw over consumers — rather than simply making independent decisions in response to the same crisis — is likely to be exceedingly difficult to prove.
But even if the plaintiffs succeed in doing so, the trial is likely to be a long, drawn-out process with many appeals and potential reversals. And even then, it won’t change the reality that prices are at their peak right now. We will not get immediate relief, regardless of what happens in the courtroom.
The skeptical view is widely reflected on social media. On Reddit, for example, user HorsePockets pointed out that HBM memory “pays much more than conventional DRAM and allows [the defendants] to move away from being purely cyclical stocks.” Increasing HBM production simply makes sense from a business perspective, they argued.
EloquentPinguin, meanwhile, put it this way: “If they really believe that DDR3 was phased out in favor of HBM, and not because it’s an almost 20-year-old technology with two well-established successive generations, then maybe they just understand [at] straw.”
It illustrates how difficult this case could be to prove – and how little impact it might have on the ongoing RAM crisis. But the reality is that prices are completely out of control right now, regardless of whether memory manufacturers have colluded to make sure that happened. Punishing the alleged culprits may feel disheartening, but it’s not going to set prices anywhere near right. And that is the real injustice here.
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