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South Korea Raids Montage and Searches Renesas and Rambus in Price‑Fixing Probe

The searches raise the prospect of coordinated cross‑border antitrust enforcement that could damage Montage’s revenue, unnerving major memory buyers.

Overview

  • South Korean prosecutors executed search-and-seizure actions on July 15 at Montage’s local office and also searched local offices of Renesas and Rambus as part of an active competition probe.
  • Montage said it is fully cooperating with investigators and that no directors or employees have been charged so far while prosecutors have seized evidence for review.
  • Montage is the largest global supplier of memory interface chips with about 36.8% revenue market share in 2024 and reported that South Korea made up more than half of its fiscal 2025 sales.
  • News of the raids caused an immediate market shock, with Montage’s Hong Kong shares falling roughly 20–23% and Shanghai-listed shares also sliding.
  • U.S. authorities reportedly opened a related DOJ antitrust inquiry in January, so coordinated multi‑jurisdictional enforcement could follow and lead to fines, litigation, or supply‑chain disruption similar to past DRAM price‑fixing cases.