Overview
- A proposed federal class-action was filed Thursday, June 25, in a Northern California court accusing Samsung, SK hynix and Micron of coordinating cuts to commodity DRAM and seeking injunctive relief and treble damages; no trial date has been set and the companies had not publicly responded in initial reports.
- Plaintiffs say the firms jointly shifted investment to high-bandwidth memory (HBM) for AI customers while reducing production of older DDR modules, a move the suit says created tight supply for consumer and enterprise DRAM and helped push prices sharply higher.
- The complaint cites Micron’s recent decision to wind down its Crucial consumer business and its long-term supply agreements that run to 2030 as evidence of a sustained industry pivot toward AI-grade memory.
- Plaintiffs argue new competitors cannot quickly offset supply restrictions because a single DRAM fab costs roughly $15–$20 billion to build and finished chips need about 12–18 months of customer qualification, which the suit says left buyers exposed to prolonged price increases and led some device makers to raise retail prices.
- To bolster their case, the plaintiffs point to prior U.S. Department of Justice prosecutions and guilty pleas by Samsung and SK hynix and note Micron’s previous cooperation with prosecutors, and they say a successful suit could force changes in how memory is allocated between AI and consumer markets.