Chuck Norris Uncovers SDRAM Conspiracy

One of the key elements of a conspiracy theory is that since it’s so far out you automatically consider it unlikely and laugh at yourself for even thinking it. You feel somewhat embarrassed for even conjuring it, even less will you discuss it openly.

But hell, as far as I can remember, I’ve always wondered aloud if manufacturers were keeping RAM prices so expensive.

Think about it. Almost any gadget from computer, cellphone, audio/video player or even storage device, video card or add-on PCI adapter’s price increases once the manufacturer decides to add ‘cache’ onto it. That one single performance upgrade adds up to 30% to the price.

Given the fact these things are found in almost every conceivable electronic device that can benefit from it (and that’s almost everything), wouldn’t it stand to reason that manufacturing costs would eventually fall from competition and the usual manufacturer’s efforts to decrease costs – an SOP for every business? Especially in the light of how RAM has been with us forever?

Yet look in every computer store’s pricelist, and RAM of all types traditionally remain one of the most expensive and least subject to change items on the list. So I came up with a theory (ahem) that maybe, manufacturers artifically keep prices up for some reason, either to protect a standard, or maybe the resource material is rare or expensive, or maybe it requires a special type of tooling process only available to certain specialized (ie very rich) companies in the world – whatever – any of which don’t really make sense. Anyway, I left it at that, until this came out today:

3 Samsung execs to plead guilty for DRAM price-fixing

WASHINGTON — Three South Korean executives of Samsung Electronics have agreed to plead guilty and serve jail terms in the United States for their role in a global price-fixing conspiracy, US authorities said Wednesday.

Four companies and 12 individuals have been charged and fined following a US Department of Justice probe into a conspiracy between companies to fix the prices of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips, a key component in computers and other electronics, authorities said.

In addition to jail terms, the three South Korean executives, who worked for Samsung and its subsidiaries, have agreed to forego extradition proceedings, pay a 250,000-dollar fine and cooperate in the US probe of the DRAM industry.

the rest is here.

So here’s the part where I get to say “I knew it!”. After years of observing computer parts prices rise and fall, it turns out manufacturers were working together in RAM’s case albeit I admit I held back on thinking that something illegal was actually going on.

Three things are now apparent. a. They’ve been duping us for years!, paying much more for what RAM is worth, or at least as long as that unholy alliance has been around. Dang!, and b. Prices are going to have to go down all around now. Just like I said, almost every conceivable gadget works better with more RAM, and come to think of it, I’m sure manufacturers had held back including RAM in their products due to the inhibitive cost.

And finally I may be getting ahead of myself, but c. This may result in a shift in programming, whereas before code was designed to make use of techniques to avoid being RAM intensive, if costs really go down you could see whole, bigger and more applications running strictly in RAM, and there are some very interesting apps that can come out of this as a result.

Postnote: Of course this has nothing to do with Chuck Norris, but I’m addicted to Chucknorrisfacts.com, so why not.