Officials in Beijing have reportedly announced that “important progress” has been made in an investigation into anti-competitive behavior among chipmakers, including South Korean giants Samsung and SK Hynix, and US firm Micron.
“The anti-monopoly investigation into these three companies has made important progress…. [It] has yielded massive evidence,” Wu Zhenguo, head of China’s anti-monopoly regulator, was quoted by the Financial Times as saying.
Shares of Micron fell more than 6% on Monday.
Together, the three firms hold a virtual monopoly on the market for DRAM chips, widely used in consumer electronics. According to research firm IC Insights, DRAM prices jumped nearly 50% in 2017, after decades of decline.
“In the 34-year period from 1978-2012, the DRAM price-per-bit declined by an average annual rate of 33%. However, from 2012 through 2017, the average DRAM price-per-bit decline was only 3% per year. Moreover, the 47% full-year 2017 jump in the price-per-bit of DRAM was the largest annual increase since 1978, surpassing the previous high of 45% registered 30 years ago in 1988!” the firm wrote in a report last March.
The Chinese investigation is not the first time the companies have faced antitrust action.
All three companies are currently contesting a class-action lawsuit filed in US courts, and Samsung and Hynix have both paid fines in the US and the European Union in the past for price-fixing.
A perfect example of the proper and genuine way to handle unfair trade practices. The USA way so far is just throwing tantrums because they losing based on trade rules American themselves set up and pride on as the shining light for humanity [when they were winning]
A perfect example of the proper and genuine way to handle unfair trade practices. The USA way so far is just throwing tantrums because they losing based on trade rules American themselves set up and pride on as the shining light for humanity [when they were winning]