Class Action lawsuit against DRAM manufacturers

From Polygon
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The class action lawsuit filed by 14 individuals and three businesses accuses Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron of conspiring to fix prices and supply of DDR3 and DDR4 RAM, resulting in higher costs. “This lawsuit seeks to recover for—and stop—concerted anticompetitive behavior by three oligopolists in the market for dynamic random access memory, more commonly called DRAM,” the opening line of the suit reads.

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The lawsuit points out that between 1998 and 2002, these same three companies, Samsung, Hynix (the predecessor of SK Hynix), and Micron, took part in a criminal conspiracy to fix the prices of DRAM sold to major American computer companies. After the Department of Justice prosecuted the case, Samsung pleaded guilty and paid a $300 million fine, Hynix pleaded guilty and paid $185 million, and Micron avoided a fine by reporting the conspiracy and cooperating. As a result, several Samsung executives went to prison. The trio of companies was also investigated by the Chinese government during a RAM price spike between 2016 and 2018.

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In a related story that gives further insight into the current RAM issues...

From Kotaku:
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Valve Says The Companies Making RAM Give Them A Price And If They Say No, They ‘Never Talk To Us Again’
If that sounds a lot like a cartel, well, you wouldn't be the first person to point that out