Bull Theory (@BullTheoryio) “🚨 SAMSUNG, SK HYNIX, AND MICRON ARE GETTING SUED FOR ENGINEERING THE MEMORY CHI” — TopicDigg

🚨 SAMSUNG, SK HYNIX, AND MICRON ARE GETTING SUED FOR ENGINEERING THE MEMORY CHIP SHORTAGE. The lawsuit, filed June 25 in California, accuses the three companies of using their pivot to AI memory chips as cover to cut production of regular DRAM, the memory used in everyday laptops and phones. DRAM prices have risen roughly 500-700% over the past four years. Micron reportedly shut down its consumer DRAM brand, Crucial, at the most profitable price point in its history, a move the lawsuit calls economically irrational unless it was coordinated. The lawsuit points directly to Apple's recent price hikes on iPads and Macs as evidence the damage is already reaching consumers. This isn't the first time. Between 1998 and 2002, Samsung, Hynix, Micron, Infineon, and Elpida ran an actual price fixing cartel, confirmed by US federal prosecutors. Samsung paid a $300 million criminal fine, Hynix paid $185 million, and Infineon paid $160 million, with several executives serving real prison time, sentences ranging from 4 to 14 months. The new lawsuit alleges Samsung and SK Hynix later rehired and promoted some of those same convicted executives into senior roles. Together, the three companies control the vast majority of global DRAM supply today, and building a single new DRAM factory costs $15 to $20 billion and takes years, making it nearly impossible for new competitors to break in and undercut them. That's the core problem this lawsuit is targeting. Three companies with total control over a market everyone depends on, the same companies already convicted once before, now facing the same accusation again while prices keep climbing and ordinary buyers have nowhere else to turn. Jefferies doesn't expect relief anytime soon. Prices are forecast to climb another 40-50% next quarter, then a further 30-40% on top of that the quarter after, meaning prices could roughly double by year end. 2027 is expected to bring another 40-45% increase on top of that, with no real normalization expected until 2028.