The DRAM Cartel | Price Fixing, Anti-Consumer Collusion, & Corporate Conspiracy

SUPPORT US: We launched our brand new WIREFRAME V2 MOUSE MATS https://store.gamersnexus.net/products/gn-wireframe-v2-mouse-mat or check out our e-waste Inductor tabletop gaming dice set! https://store.gamersnexus.net/products/inductor-full-tabletop-mtg-dnd-premium-dice-set-7-piece-dice-wooden-box-token-card
THE DRAM CARTEL: With absurd RAM prices and shortages of desktop memory, we've noticed a lot of parallels between the current AI demand (or "demand" for memory and the DRAM Cartel eras of the industry. This especially feels familiar with reservations of memory not yet manufactured for data centers not yet guaranteed. In this special report and deep-dive documentary, we dig deep through the archives of the internet, magazines, and newspapers to compile a definitive history of the DRAM Cartel, plus its modern parallels to the AI industry. Our documentary covers the memory price-fixing scandal of 1998-2002, additional price fixing conspiracy allegations in 2016-2022, and all the ways in which the memory makers have stabbed each other in the back over the last 60 years.

This deep-dive report took our team OVER 255 HOURS of editing, writing, art, and research to put together. WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT to be able to afford videos like this. Please consider grabbing one of our items on our store:

Brand new WIREFRAME V2 MOUSE MATS https://store.gamersnexus.net/products/gn-wireframe-v2-mouse-mat
(ON SALE) LIMITED Disappointment PC Build T-Shirts with 'tour dates' of the worst in hardware: https://store.gamersnexus.net/products/disappointment-pc-2025-censored-tri-blend
Grab a cobalt blue GN pint glass with tear-down logo here! https://store.gamersnexus.net/products/cobalt-blue-tear-down-logo-pint-glass-libbey-17-oz
Or our RETRO IO Themed Coaster pack with 3D custom coasters we made -https://store.gamersnexus.net/products/gn-drink-retro-io-coaster-pack-4-custom-3d-coasters-100x100mm
Finally, check out our PC building anti-static modmats here: https://store.gamersnexus.net/products/large-modmat-gn15-anniversary

Like our content? Please consider becoming our Patron to support us: http://www.patreon.com/gamersnexus

WATCH OUR DOCUMENTARIES
The Rise of Chinese Memory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzfhhAfxK-A
The NVIDIA AI GPU Black Market: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H3xQaf7BFI
The Future of Intel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUIh0fOUcrQ
Secrets of a $182 Billion Chipmaker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7H4eg2jOvVw
Creating a 48GB RTX 4090: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcRGBeOENLg

TIMESTAMPS

00:00:00 - The DRAM Cartel
00:06:01 - WE NEED YOUR HELP and new mouse mat
00:07:17 - DRAM Industry from the Beginning
00:09:05 - Inventing DRAM
00:11:52 - Co-Opetition
00:18:11 - A New Order and The Big Three
00:21:21 - 1950 to 1970 - Birth of the Industry
00:25:46 - 1971 to 1979 - US Dominance and Japan Enters
00:29:12 - 1980 to 1997 - The Tide Turns and Trade Wars
00:38:43 - Japan's Lost Decade and Dawn of Korean Memory
00:45:27 - 1998 to 2002 - The Cartel Forms
00:51:29 - Fractured Cartel
00:57:15 - 2002 to 2016 - Cornered
01:08:38 - 2017 to 2025 - IP Theft and US China Trade War

CORRECTIONS:
00:28:27 - We missed the title card in the bottom left during the final edit pass. This card should read "MIT" as the source, specifically, "A Study of the DRAM Industry."

** Please like, comment, and subscribe for more! **

Links to Amazon and Newegg are typically monetized on our channel (affiliate links) and may return a commission of sales to us from the retailer. This is unrelated to the product manufacturer. Any advertisements or sponsorships are disclosed within the video ("this video is brought to you by" and above the fold in the description. We do not ever produce paid content or "sponsored content" (meaning that the content is our idea and is not funded externally aside from whatever ad placement is in the beginning) and we do not ever charge manufacturers for coverage.

Follow us in these locations for more gaming and hardware updates:

t: http://www.twitter.com/gamersnexus
f: http://www.facebook.com/gamersnexus
w: http://www.gamersnexus.net/

Our policies, processes, and ethics statements relating to review samples, advertising, travel, errors, and more are transparently and publicly available on this page: https://gamers.nexus/ethics-statements

Steve Burke: Host, Writing, Editing Lead
Mike Gaglione: Editing Support
Vitalii Makhnovets: Sr. Editor, Production
Tim Phetdara: Editing
Andrew Coleman: Editing
Tannen Williams: Primary Writing, Research
Ben Benson: Research Support