According to the micro-grid, on May 31, the Chinese anti-monopoly agencies dispatched several working groups to conduct 'peep investigations' and on-site forensics for the offices of Samsung, Hynix, and Micron in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen, respectively. The Chinese anti-monopoly agency officially launched investigations on three companies.
The three major storage giants were investigated by Chinese and US regulators
At the end of December of last year, Microelectronics exclusively reported on the news that China's anti-monopoly agencies had talked about Samsung. At that time, DRAM was experiencing a record-breaking rise in the seven quarters, which brought great pressure to downstream companies and consumers.
The Development and Reform Commission said at the time that it has noticed that the price of the DRAM industry has soared. It will pay more attention to the issues that may arise from the 'price manipulation' of the industry in the future. There may be multiple companies acting together to push up chip prices and maximize profitability. the behavior of.
In mid-May, Micro-Networks learned from news channels that China's anti-trust agency conducted an interview with Micron. The main reason is that the price of standard memory has continued to increase for several consecutive quarters, causing high costs for Chinese manufacturers. At the same time, Micron has allegedly restricted equipment vendors. Supply to Fujian Jinhua, abuse of market dominance, impede fair competition.
According to the micro-grid, the actions of the three giants that hindered fair market competition and the reports of some companies promoted the launch of the China Anti-Monopoly Investigation.
Industry analysts pointed out that since the DRAM production cycle lasts for more than eight weeks, from the input of capital expenditures to the increase of new production capacity, the output of the particles will last for at least one year. DRAM manufacturers are most likely to limit sales in the anti-monopoly provisions. Quantity ' is investigated.
From the development of DRAM industry and the period of market price changes in the past two decades, there are also facts that industry giants have used market dominance to manipulate prices.
In 2006, the U.S. Department of Justice filed lawsuits against Samsung, Elpida, Infineon, Hynix, etc., for a total fine of approximately 730 million U.S. dollars, in which Samsung fined 300 million U.S. dollars. Dollars.
Last month, Samsung, Hynix and Micron faced litigation in the United States. The three companies were accused of collusion between 2016 and 2017, limiting the supply of various DRAM products in the market, artificially driving up DRAM prices.
The evidence provided by litigators included March 30, 2016. Micron Technology asked Samsung Electronics and Hynix whether it could reduce production. At the same time, Micron executives stated that the company would not reduce production unilaterally and said to competitors that ' Our goal is not market share' etc.
At present, the US lawsuit is still in progress. If it is finally determined that Samsung and others participated in the market price manipulation and other punishments, the Chinese anti-monopoly authority may refer to the penalties imposed in this respect.
Samsung 70% profit margin leading price increase
Data show that from June 1, 2016 to February 1, 2018, 4GB of DRAM memory prices rose by 130%. Only in 2017, DRAM memory prices rose by 47%, the largest increase in nearly 30 years.
At present, the trend of high DRAM market prices under the oligopolistic situation will continue.
According to the data from the state consultancy, the three major manufacturers of memory Samsung, Hynix, and Micron in the first quarter of 2018 had a market share of 44.9%, 27.9%, and 22.6% respectively, which together accounted for 95.4% of the total market share. In the first quarter of this year, global DRAM revenue grew by 5.4% from the fourth quarter of 2017, reaching a record high.
Samsung still sits firmly in the DRAM industry. In the first quarter, revenue hit a record high of 10.36 billion U.S. dollars, up 2.9% from the previous quarter. Reuters reported that Samsung will receive 70 cents for every dollar of DRAM chips sold. operating profit.
Hynix revenue reached US$6.432 billion in the first quarter, up 2.2% from the previous quarter. Micron continued to be the price leader in the market in the first half of this year, and the price increase was higher than that of the other two Korean factories. The price increase in the first quarter exceeded 10%, driving revenue of 5.213 billion US dollars, quarterly increase of 14.3%.
Micron Group still maintains its third position. However, in the first half of this year, Micron continued to play the role of price leader in the market, and the price increase was higher than that of Samsung and Hynix. The first quarter of Micron's DRAM prices increased by more than 10%, driving revenue of 5.213 billion U.S. dollars. 14.3% increase, the market share increased by about 2% compared with the previous quarter.
Jibang Consulting pointed out that the operating profit rate of the three major DRAM manufacturers in the first quarter of this year has reached 50-70%, which is not only the highest in history. The profitability of the three DRAM makers even exceeds that of the higher-level technology processor (Application Processor). Nothing in history.
At present, in order to cope with the rising DRAM situation and the impact of NAND processes, Samsung and Hynix have adjusted their NAND production lines to DRAM production lines. However, the conversion is still in progress and it takes time. On the other hand, Dachang itself does not have strong enough momentum to accelerate the release of DRAM production capacity, and slowing down as much as possible will also help it obtain the dividends brought about by rising prices.
China's storage industry is under pressure
The sustained high prices of DRAMs have brought great pressure to the downstream industry chain and the consumer side while allowing the three giants to make substantial profits. This is especially true for China, where DRAM is up to 20% and the largest market for memory is needed.
Taking the mobile phone industry with a wide range of DRAM applications as an example, the increase in DRAM prices in recent years will not only test the supply chain management capabilities of smart phone manufacturers, but also bring heavy cost pressures to mid- to low-end models and small-scale mobile phone brands. In the current slowdown in the growth of the smart phone industry and the lack of mobile energy purchased by consumers, the cost panic caused by the rise in upstream components is spreading throughout the industry.
A person in the mobile phone industry said in an interview with a micro-grid reporter that in the surge of DRAM prices last year, DRAM prices increased by more than 20% in each quarter. 'Each time they say they are out of stock, and after price increases, they No out-of-stock phenomenon occurred. 'The person said.
According to the micro-network reporter, some mobile phone manufacturers have also submitted relevant reporting materials to China's anti-trust agencies.
This year is a key node for the development of China's storage industry. At present, China's storage sector has formed the Yangtze River storage, which includes the development of NAND FLASH, Hefei Changxin, which focuses on mobile memory, and Fujian Jinhua, which is dedicated to niche memory, from three vendors. According to the current progress, the trial production time is expected to be in the second half of 2018. The volume production time will be concentrated in the first half of 2019.
In this situation, despite a short period of time, Chinese storage companies will not pose a threat to giants such as Samsung Micron, but the rapid rise of China's storage industry under the support of national policies and financial support will obviously be another taboo for Samsung Micron and other giants. With the further release of DRAM production capacity, China's storage companies are bound to face the price war from the industry giant hair, litigation and other suppression measures.
According to the micro-network reporter, Micron has already begun restricting equipment suppliers to supply Jinhua in Fujian. This undoubtedly poses significant pressure and challenges for Fujian Jinhua, which is in the trial production stage.
The ultimate goal of China’s anti-monopoly law is to maintain fair competition in the market. Any operator with market dominance must not abuse the market advantage to manipulate prices or implement other monopolistic practices. From the current situation, Samsung Micron and other industry giants The practice has been suspected of violating the relevant provisions of China's anti-monopoly law.
The Chinese anti-monopoly agency officially launched investigations on the three companies will benefit the establishment and maintenance of fair market competition and the healthy development of the storage industry.
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