China Alleges 'Massive' Evidence of DRAM Price Fixing

AlphaAtlas

AlphaAtlas

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The Financial Times reports that Chinese regulators have found "Massive Evidence" of DRAM price-fixing. While the article itself is behind a paywall, summaries from other news sites have hinted at a few of the details. According to silicon.co.uk, Chinese officials didn't give any specific examples, but they did say they are investigating, Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron Technology. According to previous reports, the firms are already facing up to $8 Billion USD in fines

"The anti-monopoly investigation into these three companies has made important progress...  (It) has yielded massive evidence," said Wu Zhenguo, the head of China's anti-monopoly bureau under the State Administration for Market Regulation, according to the FT. Bloomberg also reported that the country's anti-monopoly bureau had made "progress" in the investigation.
 
Oh, the irony. I remember when I'd bring this up in the past 15 months only to be called a whiner about pricing and how market demand rules... Guess I saw the signs pretty clearly. Hopefully those ignorant voices will now shut up and accept their cluelessness. Market demand is one thing. $110 for a freaking 8GB of RAM is a whole other story.
 
euskalzabe said:
Oh, the irony. I remember when I'd bring this up in the past 15 months only to be called a whiner about pricing and how market demand rules... Guess I saw the signs pretty clearly. Hopefully those ignorant voices will now shut up and accept their cluelessness. Market demand is one thing. $110 for a freaking 8GB of RAM is a whole other story.
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Yep, smelled the same to me. Not one bit surprised.
 
all you have to do is look at the price charts for DDR4 3200.. in June China announces they're going to investigate DDR4 price fixing.. bam prices instantly start dropping..
 
sirmonkey1985 said:
https://pcpartpicker.com/trends/price/memory/#ram.288dimm.ddr4_3200.4x4096

all you have to do is look at that chart.. in June China announces they're going to investigate DDR4 price fixing.. bam prices instantly start dropping..
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There is this crazy idea that correlation does not imply causation.

Prices are *slowly* dropping due to decreased demand and stable production. NAND, also a target of China has been dropping for longer and faster, a stable demand and increased supply situation.

Sorry but my tinfoil hat is in for cleaning.
 
It was the fire at Hynix and then the nitrogen gas malfunction at Micron and then the blackout at the Samsung factory.

These companies are having misfortune one after the other at different times (ram prices skyrocket after each event). Coincidences, I think not.

Plus the lost time they were fined they walked away with a nice profit and no repercussions, why not take the gravy train one more time around the tracks?
 
RealBeast said:
Raise your hand if you think that a multi-billion dollar fine from China (the world's most honest country) will reduce prices to us end users. o_O
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hard to say, china is a huge money market for tech companies right now so pissing them off could be pretty bad for them.
 
China Alleges 'Massive' Evidence of DRAM Price Fixing
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You Dont Say.jpg
 
It'll continue as "cost of doing business" as long as the fines add up to less than the profits of doing it.
 
euskalzabe said:
Oh, the irony. I remember when I'd bring this up in the past 15 months only to be called a whiner about pricing and how market demand rules... Guess I saw the signs pretty clearly. Hopefully those ignorant voices will now shut up and accept their cluelessness. Market demand is one thing. $110 for a freaking 8GB of RAM is a whole other story.
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You weren't the only one commenting and the US started probing this about 6+ months ago. I think the biggest difference might be that China is going out of its way to implicate Micron along with the other manufacturers... aside from the likelihood that Micron is probably as guilty as price fixing as the Korean and Chinese firms.
 
One, I'm a tad bit glad as they're like the OPEC of memory.

Two, I do see the irony of China, a country known for its anti-competitive practices, is targeting certain companies for price fixing. Guess it's only OK if they do it?
 
While I wouldn't be surprised if this is true, China has beef with Micron right now that is unrelated to any notion of consumer protections.
Remember the Chinese firm Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit Co Ltd is accused stealing IP from Micron and is facing a export ban in the US.

I would welcome a legitimate investigation into RAM makers business practices; this however is likely to be a kangaroo court more about Made in China 2025 and the trade war than any actual pursuit of justice.
 
Good I hope to god they have to pay billions of dollars and the pain is so horribly horribly bad that they never ever try and rip off consumers again. Memory going from $89 dollars 2 years ago for 16gb of DDR4 3200mhz to $250? yeah right. If you guys for ever believed they were short on supply because of demand, you're fools. In fact, I cannot wait until the Chinese knock all that memory off one way or another. I could care less. I cannot stand greedy profiteering. The world is already bad enough for consumers.
 
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RealBeast said:
There is this crazy idea that correlation does not imply causation.

Prices are *slowly* dropping due to decreased demand and stable production. NAND, also a target of China has been dropping for longer and faster, a stable demand and increased supply situation.

Sorry but my tinfoil hat is in for cleaning.
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I'd say it has more to do with people just scoffing at the prices and saying, "fuck it. Not upgrading this year." The fixers went too far this time. lol
 
This comes of the heels of micron claiming a Chinese company stole trade secrets. A coincidence? I find that unlikely.
 
Oh how convenient the Chinese find evidence of price fixing when it's not a Chinese company involved in it. Where was all this detective work when Chinese companies conspiring to destroy American solar innovation?
 
I find it the height of irony that a country that pretty much does nothing but tariffs and price fixing, accuses a private entity of price fixing. It's like the pot calling the kettle black. The only difference would be China is saying it's unsanctioned price fixing actually.

"Irony can be pretty ironic sometimes" - Buck Murdock (Airplane II).
 
euskalzabe said:
Oh, the irony. I remember when I'd bring this up in the past 15 months only to be called a whiner about pricing and how market demand rules... Guess I saw the signs pretty clearly. Hopefully those ignorant voices will now shut up and accept their cluelessness. Market demand is one thing. $110 for a freaking 8GB of RAM is a whole other story.
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DukenukemX said:
Where's Tyns cause I'm here to collect on me being right.
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I was gonna say, now's a great time to quote the many people proclaiming the notion of price fixing was ridiculous and everybody was just whining. If I had a dollar for every time somebody called pointing out something illegal "whining", I'd be rich.
 
tetris42 said:
I was gonna say, now's a great time to quote the many people proclaiming the notion of price fixing was ridiculous and everybody was just whining. If I had a dollar for every time somebody called pointing out something illegal "whining", I'd be rich.
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Yeah, I'd love to know what Tyns would say about this, but oh surprise:

upload_2018-11-20_22-7-39.png

So I guess he won't be saying much anymore. Who knows why any users like him insisted on defending these prices... forum trolls paid to attempt to normalize the price gauging? After fighting him on the issue here, and here, and here, and here I just got tired of the whole circus. It's enough for me to know that those people had no idea what they were talking about and were clearly wrong. Once again, this reminds me to trust my instincts, which have been pretty much on the money for many years now. I'll have to remember that not everyone in these forums has honest interests, I just never understood why anyone likes kicking the hornet nest for no good reason.
 
Looks like Winnie is busy following the example of the European Union on how to fund future loans to the state.
 
Call me when China executes some of these cancerous fuckers. Until then, nothing will happen and the same shit will repeat every damn few years.
 
Blame Al Gore for this....

After all, he invented the internet, without which we would NOT have this problem :eek: :spitoutdummy: :vomit:
 
Color me NOT shocked. Again.

This has been a recurring theme since the FP/EDO era.

Back in my 386sx40 days, I attempted to upgrade my 386 from 4x256KB modules to 4x1MB modules, only to find out that the prices had skyrocketed to the tune of $35 per 1MB module USED.

I don't think China cares...their corporate tax rate is 25%. The higher the cost of the goods, the more tax revenue they make. They are simply giving the illusion that they care, collect billions more in fines, then let these companies carry on with these typical antics.

It's a win-win for them all.
 
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