Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron—the world's three largest manufacturers of RAM and fast storage—are currently facing a class action lawsuit. Filed on June 25 in a federal court in California, the suit alleges that these companies coordinated to limit the supply of DDR3 and DDR4 RAM to drive up prices, while prioritizing the production of HBM RAM for AI datacentres.
The legal filing argues that consumers have shouldered the cost of this supply squeeze. In a standard competitive market, rising prices would typically encourage new players to increase production, but the high financial and time requirements to build advanced fabrication facilities serve as a significant barrier to entry, leaving the market dominated by the three defendants.
This isn't the first time these companies have faced such accusations. In 2005, Samsung and SK Hynix pleaded guilty to price-fixing DRAM, resulting in massive fines. The US Department of Justice levied a $185 million fine against SK Hynix and a $300 million fine against Samsung, the latter being the second-largest criminal antitrust fine in US history at the time. Micron, the only US-based company among the trio, avoided charges in that instance by assisting prosecutors.
The current lawsuit also references an investigation by the Chinese government into the three manufacturers between 2016 and 2018, a period during which RAM prices saw a significant spike.
Impact on Consumer Electronics
The rising costs of memory and storage have rippled through the consumer electronics industry. Major hardware manufacturers, including Apple, have been forced to raise prices on devices like MacBooks and iPads. Similarly, console manufacturers—specifically Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo—have implemented multiple price hikes for their hardware in recent months.
The scarcity of parts has also hindered supply chains. Valve, for instance, admitted that its recently launched Steam Machine is priced higher than initially intended and is suffering from limited availability that prevents the company from meeting consumer demand.
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth Sees Record Player Count
In other industry news, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth has hit an all-time concurrent player record on Steam, 12 years after its initial release. The spike follows a 90 percent discount during the Steam Summer Sale, which brought the complete bundle to its lowest price ever at £3.70.
SteamDB data shows the game reached a peak of nearly 131,000 concurrent players, shattering its previous record of 70,701 set in April 2021. The game currently sits in the top 10 most played titles on Steam, outperforming recent releases like Path of Exile 2 and Slay the Spire 2. The title has seen a massive 394.9 percent increase in players over the last 30 days.
While the game was previously considered finished, developer Edmund McMillen has continued to support the project, most recently with the free Repentance+ DLC, which introduced online co-op. A physical release of The Binding of Isaac: Repentance+ is also scheduled to arrive for the Nintendo Switch 2 in Q3 2026.