sixer9682
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Have you wondered why the GPUs, SSDs, and RAM cost so much over the last year or so? It's because memory makers have been cutting back production with the purpose of driving RAM and RAM related product prices higher.
THE ANTITRUST ARM of the European Commission has hurled a whopping €331 million fine in the direction of DRAM producers.
The ten DRAM firms were running a pricing cartel, according to the EC, and this is best fixed with a fine. Firms that potentially will be hiring new accountants and lawyers are Micron, Samsung, Hynix, Infineon, NEC, Hitachi, Mitsubishi, Toshiba, Elpida and Nanya. Of these only Micron escaped being fined, thanks in part, or mostly, to its turning whistleblower.
According to an EC statement, Micron "revealed the existence of the cartel to the Commission. Cartel settlements allow the Commission to speed up investigations, free up resources to deal with other cases and generally improve the efficiency of its antitrust enforcement". The other firms were slightly less forthcoming, but reading between the lines it appears that there was some sort of orgy of guilty outpourings.
"This first settlement decision is another milestone in the Commission's anti-cartel enforcement. By acknowledging their participation in a cartel the companies have allowed the Commission to bring this long-running investigation to a close and to free up resources to investigate other suspected cartels. As the procedure is applied to new cases it is expected to speed up investigations significantly", said Commission vice president and competition commissioner Joaquín Almunia.
In return for their confessionals, the fined parties were given a ten per cent reduction on their fines, along with some other concessions.
The fines are the result of an eight year investigation by the EC and regulators in the US, and this could be just the first salvo of fines in the pricing cartel case. For now Samsung got the biggest fine, €145 million, Infineon was fined €56.7 million and Hynix €51.5 million. Nanya got the lowest fine at €1.8 million.
According to Gartner, DRAM is big business, and in Q1 of this year saw market sales of $9.5 billion. Gartner's figures put Samsung at the top of the earnings pile. µ
THE ANTITRUST ARM of the European Commission has hurled a whopping €331 million fine in the direction of DRAM producers.
The ten DRAM firms were running a pricing cartel, according to the EC, and this is best fixed with a fine. Firms that potentially will be hiring new accountants and lawyers are Micron, Samsung, Hynix, Infineon, NEC, Hitachi, Mitsubishi, Toshiba, Elpida and Nanya. Of these only Micron escaped being fined, thanks in part, or mostly, to its turning whistleblower.
According to an EC statement, Micron "revealed the existence of the cartel to the Commission. Cartel settlements allow the Commission to speed up investigations, free up resources to deal with other cases and generally improve the efficiency of its antitrust enforcement". The other firms were slightly less forthcoming, but reading between the lines it appears that there was some sort of orgy of guilty outpourings.
"This first settlement decision is another milestone in the Commission's anti-cartel enforcement. By acknowledging their participation in a cartel the companies have allowed the Commission to bring this long-running investigation to a close and to free up resources to investigate other suspected cartels. As the procedure is applied to new cases it is expected to speed up investigations significantly", said Commission vice president and competition commissioner Joaquín Almunia.
In return for their confessionals, the fined parties were given a ten per cent reduction on their fines, along with some other concessions.
The fines are the result of an eight year investigation by the EC and regulators in the US, and this could be just the first salvo of fines in the pricing cartel case. For now Samsung got the biggest fine, €145 million, Infineon was fined €56.7 million and Hynix €51.5 million. Nanya got the lowest fine at €1.8 million.
According to Gartner, DRAM is big business, and in Q1 of this year saw market sales of $9.5 billion. Gartner's figures put Samsung at the top of the earnings pile. µ
