U.S. antitrust officials are investigating the $12 billion global memory chip industry, the Justice Department said Wednesday, and three of the world’s top four makers of dynamic random access memory confirmed that they were caught up in the probe.
Justice Department spokeswoman Dana Perino confirmed that the agency’s antitrust division was conducting an investigation, which appeared to focus on the sharp price swings that have battered the industry since last fall.
South Korea’s Samsung Electronics, Germany’s Infineon and Boise, Idaho-based Micron Technology Inc., the only DRAM manufacturer in the U.S., said they have received subpoenas. South Korea’s Hynix Semiconductor declined to comment.
Micron said it received a demand for information from a federal grand jury in California. Micron said it would cooperate with the probe, but denied that it had violated any law.
“The DRAM business is highly competitive and subject to extreme volatility,” said Kipp Bedard, Micron’s vice president of corporate affairs.
Memory chip-makers have been hammered by competition so fierce that it has driven prices below the cost of production. Analysts said U.S. regulators may be looking into whether memory-makers have teamed up to keep prices low to drive out weaker rivals, thereby easing future competition.
