In the past two years, the prices of DRAM memory chips and memory chips have skyrocketed, causing the entire industry to suffer. Samsung, SK hynix and Micron’s three giants have earned enough money. The combined market share of the three companies exceeds 95%. Very strong control.
For this kind of abnormal market behavior, China’s relevant departments also repeatedly shot out. At the end of the year and early May of this year, according to reports from enterprises and industry organizations, the Chinese anti-monopoly agencies successively talked about Samsung and Micron. In early June, they again turned to the Big Three. A raid investigation was conducted in the office in the north.
According to the latest report, On Wednesday, June 27, the State Market Supervision Administration conducted another surprise investigation into the office of DRAMeXchange, a storage unit of Taiwan's TrendForce, located in Shenzhen.
Founded in 2000, DRAMeXchange is headquartered in Taipei and has branches in the north. The main research covers DRAM memory, Flash flash memory industry, and holds a very comprehensive semiconductor industry data information, including authoritative data such as component price quotes.
Analysts pointed out that The State Market Supervision Administration conducted an investigation of DRAMeXchange, perhaps to further collect DRAM product price information.
The data shows that from June 1, 2016 to February 1, 2018, the price of 4GB DRAM memory has increased by 1.3 times. In 2017 alone, the memory price has increased by 47%, setting the largest increase in nearly 30 years.
According to China’s anti-monopoly laws, Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, Micron may be fined between US$800 million and US$8 billion if it is found to be subject to price manipulation. This is based on estimates made by the three companies in China's DRAM market in 2016-2017.
China is already the world's largest consumer of DRAM memory. In 2017, it imported a memory chip worth $88.92 billion, which is nearly 40% higher than that of the previous year.
