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Valve Says The Companies Making RAM Give Them A Price And If They Say No, They ‘Never Talk To Us Again’ (kotaku.com)
submitted 4 months ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] 321 points 4 months ago (15 children)

Keep in mind, many of these same DRAM makers were once caught up in one of the largest illegal business cartels ever discovered by the U.S. government over 25 years ago. Just a fun fact to store in your brain.

😡

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  • [–] 134 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (6 children)

    Oh wow, reading the wiki you linked, looks like that one exec really learned their lesson \s

    On 5 April 2006, Sun Woo Lee, Senior Manager of DRAM at Samsung Electronics, entered into a plea bargain with the US Government for his involvement in the price fixing conspiracy.[5] Following the plea agreement he was sentenced to 8 months in prison and fined US$250,000.[6] Lee was subsequently promoted to President of Samsung Germany in 2009, and then President of Samsung Europe in 2014

    edit/update: Oh, wow so Sun Woo Lee actually really lucked out as Korea focused more on making an example of the Samsung heir apparent https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Jae-yong

    8 months in prison sucks, I totally concede that. Yet literally the deal they made looks like they were asked "Would you take the fall and go to prison for 8 months and then get paid millions per year afterward?"

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  • [–] 108 points 4 months ago (5 children)

    Going to jail as a poor person means you lose your job

    Going to jail as a rich person apparently gets you a promotion

    Interesting

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  • [–] 38 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    That means that he managed to keep the fine small enough that Samsung made significantly more money off the price fixing than they ever lost from the fine. Hasn’t changed

    https://www.axios.com/google-facebook-fines-profits--134d3567-1052-4d9d-aa70-dc7c25ed4ebf.html

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  • [–] 9 points 4 months ago

    Not just lose your job, but your entire career as the prison record will come up in your background check and the news will also be on the internet forever, the prison / slavery industry is a well oiled machine

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  • [–] 52 points 4 months ago (4 children)

    None of the fines for these things are enough. It should be, like, the company is nationalized. The leadership is sentenced to years of community service and barred from working in the industry for life.

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  • [–] 23 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    Fucking corporate America. I was fired for having a disability, specifically and intentionally by my boss and her manager. Neither has any direct accountability - both were terminated as a result of the findings of a federal and state investigation, but the company will pay for the damages. They both failed upward, getting higher positions at other companies, while I've struggled to find employment, something already difficult due to the stigma of my age, disability, and gender, but now with word of my termination having spread through the quite small pool of people who work in my field.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago

    Uuugh, fuck that! I am so deeply sorry. I'm disabled and of an age and gender that get heavily discriminated against, too...so I feel you. I've been there. It's so awful and makes you feel like shit. I sincerely hope things get better for you ASAP! Here's some Internet hugs, if you want them: 🫂

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  • [–] 12 points 4 months ago (2 children)

    coupled with the fact that the cartels refuse to expand production; this tells me they're realistic about the moment - it's not going to be a decade of future humongous peak RAM consumption, because otherwise they'd be blisteringly stupid (to lose out on those potential increased sales)... https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/dram/memory-makers-have-no-plans-to-increase-production-despite-crushing-ram-shortages-modest-2026-increase-predicted-as-dram-makers-hedge-their-ai-bets

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