The proposed class action, filed by 17 consumers and small businesses, asserts that Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron engaged in an illegal pact under the Sherman Act that triggered a 697% price spike over 18 months. U.S. District Judge Noël Wise ruled that the plaintiffs presented sufficient evidence of suspicious conduct, including plant delays and Micron's closure of its Crucial brand, to suggest unlawful collusion rather than independent business moves. However, the court did reject certain claims, noting that pivoting toward higher-margin high-bandwidth memory for artificial intelligence made independent business sense. Formal answers from the chipmakers are due in December 2026 before pro…
Key points
A federal judge ruled that failing to expand conventional memory output despite record pr…: A federal judge ruled that failing to expand conventional memory output despite record prices plausibly indicated an illegal pact.
Claims based strictly on public statements, trade-conference interactions, DDR3 memory, a…: Claims based strictly on public statements, trade-conference interactions, DDR3 memory, and the shift toward high-bandwidth memory were rejected.
The defendant chipmakers must submit formal answers by December 7, 2026, ahead of an init…: The defendant chipmakers must submit formal answers by December 7, 2026, ahead of an initial January 2027 conference.
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Key Points
- Judge Noël Wise denied Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron's joint motion to dismiss a proposed indirect-purchaser class action alleging a conspiracy to restrict conventional DRAM supply.
- The court held the case was not a rerun of DRAM II, the Ninth Circuit's 2022 affirmance of dismissal of an earlier DRAM conspiracy suit against the same companies.
- The judge found that long-term HBM lock-ups, Micron's Crucial closure, fab delays, the DDR4 exit and near-identical customer vetting plausibly suggested an agreement.
- The court sided with the companies on the bare HBM pivot, the DDR3 allegations and public statements, did not rely on trade-conference meetings, and called market structure neutral.
- Answers are due Dec. 7, 2026, and the initial case management conference was reset for Jan. 12, 2027.
A federal judge on Nov. 14 declined to dismiss a proposed class action accusing Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron of conspiring to restrict the supply of conventional dynamic random-access memory, or DRAM, the chips that provide temporary, high-speed data storage in computers, phones and servers.
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