China alleges top three chipmakers involved in price-fixing

China vowed to deepen a probe into Samsung, Micron and SK Hynix following what it said was the discovery of "massive evidence" that the world's three kargest chipmakers were colluding to rig prices.

Officials in Beijing reportedly said an investigation into the three companies, which combined supply over 95% of the world’s DRAM chips, had made "importan progress", the Financial Times reported on Monday.

Significantly, DRAM prices jumped by almost half last year, hitting Chinese electronics manufacturers' margins, although some analusts also believed it was part of a gambit by Beijing in order to force more local production.

To take note of, China was the main client of Micron and accounted for at least a third of South Korean Samsung and SK Hynix's production.

Kim Young-woo, an analyst at SK Securities, said that under a worst case scenario, Beijing could impose fines of more than $2.5bn on each the three chipmakers. "This would create additional pressure to cut DRAM prices and build more wafer factories as joint ventures with local Chinese companies to spur the transfer of technology to China," he said.

For his part, Daniel Kim, an analyst at Macquarie suspected the inclusion of Micron in the probe could be a tactic to gain some leverage in the country's trade war with the US. "This seems to be part of Beijing’s negotiating tactic amid the ongoing trade war. Beijing may be using this as a bargaining chip for its trade talks with the US," Kim said.

The US has consistently complained that Chinese state-owned firms are stealing US technology in order to get ahead of their South Korean rivals.

Indeed, earlier in November, Washington filed criminal charges against Fujian Jinhua, for the alleged theft of trade secrets and banned the Chinese group from buying US-made components.