Chinese regulators have launched a probe into memory chipmakers Micron Technology, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, The Wall Street Journal reports. The China offices of all three companies were reportedly visited recently by China's State Administration for Market Regulation.
The companies are dominant suppliers of DRAM, or dynamic random-access memory, chips used in smartphones and computers to store data. Office visits by Chinese investigators come as prices of the chips have soared, according to Reuters.
"China [is] trying to protect their PC and smartphone market from rising DRAM costs," Stifel Nicolaus analyst Kevin Cassidy told Reuters. "Typically, China PC and smartphones sell at lower costs/margins than those in other countries."
Chinese government officials have asked Samsung and SK Hynix, both headquartered in South Korea, to lower memory chip prices for top Chinese consumer electronics companies, according to The Korea Times.
The firms are cooperating with the investigation, the Journal reported, though they didn't disclose what the probe is about. Boise, Idaho-based Micron Technology, Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and China's State Administration for Market Regulation didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
China is working to lower its dependence on imported chips, the Journal reports, as almost 90 percent of the $190 billion worth of chips used there are imported or made in China by foreign-owned companies. China is reportedly working to domestically develop and produce memory chips.
In April, the US Commerce Department banned US companies from selling components to ZTE for seven years after determining that the Chinese telecom giant violated terms of a 2017 settlement by illegally shipping US equipment to Iran. The ban forced ZTE to shut down its "major operating activities."
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