Morning brief 3:02 PM ET

Memory Report — 2026-06-29

The legal overhang arrived: Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron were hit Thursday with a US federal class action alleging they colluded to engineer the "RAMpocalypse," just as SK Hynix moves to convert its record valuation into a $29 billion war chest for fab expansion.

The antitrust suit is the day's wild card. Filed June 25 in a California federal court, the complaint seeks to represent consumers and businesses who purchased products containing commodity DRAM during the recent price surge. It contends the three suppliers leveraged their position to engineer a coordinated pivot to HBM, using that realignment as a pretext to curtail DDR3 and DDR4 output, reducing commodity DRAM supply and driving prices up roughly 700% over four years. Treat the collusion claim as an allegation, not a finding — but note the suppliers' history here is real: Samsung and SK Hynix previously pled guilty to DOJ price-fixing charges in the 2000s, resulting in $731 million in fines and prison sentences for several executives. The suit lands as the industry frames elevated pricing as permanent; Lenovo is among those warning that high memory prices are the "new normal" through 2030.

The bigger structural story is capital. SK Hynix said June 24 it has filed to issue ADRs for a planned Nasdaq listing, issuing up to 17.79 million common shares — roughly 2.5% of shares outstanding — for an offering estimated at 45.45 trillion won. At the top of its range, that ~$29 billion deal would rank as the largest ADR offering ever, surpassing Alibaba's $21.8 billion New York debut in 2014. Proceeds are earmarked for expanding fabrication capacity and acquiring equipment, including EUV scanners from ASML. Total capex guidance runs to 55.92 trillion won, with 9.41 trillion won going into Phase 1 of the first Yongin fab, targeted for a Q1 2027 cleanroom opening. Trading is slated to begin July 10, opening a direct channel to US investors. The backdrop: SK Hynix briefly ended Samsung's 26-year reign as Korea's most valuable company on June 22, before both stocks fell 12% the next day and restored Samsung's lead.

On pricing, the rally is intact but the spot market is showing fatigue. DDR5 inquiries remain brisk with buyers accepting higher prices, while severe DDR4 shortages are pushing some buyers down to DDR3; mainstream DDR4 1Gx8 3200 spot rose 2.22% week-over-week to $35.90 in early June. Both DDR4 and DDR5 spot prices continued rising, but elevated quotes have left buyers hesitant, sapping the spot market of momentum. The contract picture stays firm: TrendForce projects conventional DRAM contract prices up 58–63% QoQ in 2Q26 and NAND up 70–75% QoQ. The driver remains allocation — HBM wafer input among the top three is set to climb from roughly 18% of total DRAM wafer input at end-2025 to 22% in 2026 and 30% in 2027.

Watch July 10: SK Hynix's Nasdaq debut will mark the AI-memory supercycle to dollar-denominated investors and set a fresh valuation benchmark against Micron — even as the antitrust docket reminds the Big Three that pricing power now carries legal risk.

June 29th, 2026

Memory Report — 2026-06-29

Sources