DOJ To Open Price-Fixing Query Into NAND Memory Market

Ep0xi writes "Following on previous investigations into price fixing in the SRAM and DRAM memory market, the US Department of Justice has begun an antitrust investigation of the NAND flash-memory industry.' Edwin Mok, a financial analyst at Needham, added that the NAND market was competitive. Mok, who covers SanDisk, said he would be surprised if the company did anything wrong. 'I don't see a huge impact on the company or the stock,' he said. SanDisk shares were up $1.30, or 2.6 percent, to $51.29 on Friday. But [another industry analyst] said NAND prices showed an unusual 5 percent increase in the second quarter and are expected to climb an additional 8 percent in the third quarter, before declining again in the fourth quarter. Demand remains strong.'"

What Prompted This Probe?

[Nymz]

This seems really odd to me, as the article doesn't mention any actionable reason, only that prices have gone up here and there. They're going to need documents, emails, whistle-blowers, recorded conversations, or something tangible in order to prove there's an active colusion going on.

Re:NAND flash recently dirt cheap?

[tepples]

The question that shold be asked is, if prices were supposed to continue to fall, how cheap would it eventually become?

At some point, the cost of the CF, SD, or USB interface logic outweighs the cost per bit, and it becomes more economical to produce large devices. That's why we don't see a lot of new-in-box 64 and 128 MB flash memory products or 10 GB 3.5" hard disk drives for sale anymore.

Sweet!

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

"You, the geniuses who invent and improve the RAM capacities, shall sell them only in a manner we, the angry, scientifically illiterate, power hungry, charismatic savages in government, with armed thugs under our thrall, permit you to."

We now return you to your regularly scheduled world of curtains with pretty pictures projected on them.