1GB DDR2 PC4200 prices are falling

I've been thinking about bumping my ram up to 2gb. I currently have 1.25gb. Sticks of 1GB PC4200 DDR2 are down to about (Newegg.com) $70 with shipping. I've read several articles stating that contract prices are dropping. This means prices will continue to fall. Typically this time of year, ram prices are low due to low seasonal demand.

Considering almost every major ram manufacturer (Samsung, Hynix and others) have pleaded guilty in US courts and payed hundreds of millions in fines. This does not bode well for our free enterprise economy. Perhaps the price of DDR2 ram is falling becuase of those fines, I doubt it though.

My strike price is $55 on the 1gb ram.

 

Well, presumably now that the price-fixing has been exposed, that will end and prices will settle down to whatever the market thinks they should be. It would be pretty brazen for manufacturers to continue fixing prices after this.

I'm pretty happy about this because I'm planning on adding some more RAM to my machine as well. Hopefully prices will keep going down.

 

Wishful thinking with regards to a stop in price fixing. The memory market is like the music industry. This latest round of price fixing is not the first time this has happened. It probably won't be the last. It seems the opportunity cost of collusion between memory manufacturers outweighs the fines levied from the Federal Government. Besides consumers never see any of that money. Most likely that money goes to Homeland Security or Halliburton.

 

Here's a printed article from the net.

The DRAM business is volatile -- much like the memory itself. Prices often swing in both directions widely and according to many in the business, ramps in either direction are difficult to predict. Interestingly, the bigger a company is in the DRAM business, the greater the difficulties. Over the past several years, DRAM companies have come under fire from the public as well as the law. DRAM companies ranging from Elpida, Hynix, Infineon, Micron to Samsung and a host of others have been accused of DRAM price fixing in which said companies jointly agreed to participate in cartel-like business practices. Of course, such actions don't go unnoticed.

Previously, Infineon was given a fine of $300 million for its illegal business activities -- a miniscule amount compared to the $24 billion industry that Infineon was in. However, according to financial reports, Infineon previously made $150 million of net profit on $3.2 billion in sales revenue. Considering its actions, losing roughly two year's worth of net income for questionable business tactics is just not worth it -- as the saying goes, crime doesn't pay.