South Korean prosecutors recently launched a raid on the offices of three global core memory interface chip manufacturers: China's Lanqi Technology, Japan's Renesas Electronics, and the United States' Rambus, investigating their alleged collusion in semiconductor component prices.

On July 15th, the Fair Trade Investigation Department of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office conducted searches of the South Korean offices of the three companies on suspicion of violating the South Korean Fair Trade Act, and obtained mobile phones and other information of some personnel related to the companies during the operation.

Three companies were accused of colluding to set prices during the supply of components to major semiconductor manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. Related companies all produce storage interface chips used in server DRAM and are the main suppliers in this field.

Subsequently, the prosecution will focus on sorting and analyzing the seized materials, verifying one by one whether the three companies have engaged in private business information exchange and joint manipulation of supply prices, accurately identifying the time nodes and coverage scope of the illegal collusion, as well as the actual impact of this behavior on the pricing of the global storage chip supply chain and downstream procurement costs, in order to define the relevant companies' violations and responsibilities.

At present, the South Korean prosecutor's office has not yet announced the specific amount involved and the investigation results, and the relevant cases are still under further investigation.

On July 16th, the staff of the board office of Lanqi Technology made an official response to the overseas investigation incident: the incident occurred yesterday, and the company is currently investigating the relevant situation; The company has always adhered to compliant operation and will actively cooperate with this investigation. Currently, the overall operation is normal.

Unlike the conventional complaint filing process, this investigation was initiated by the South Korean prosecutor's proactive investigation and discovery of clues. Public information shows that the core service customers of Lanqi Technology, Renesas Electronics, and Rambus cover top global DRAM memory chip manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron, deeply binding to the mainstream global storage supply chain system.

According to official website information, Lanqi Technology was founded in 2004 and is a leading global fabless integrated circuit design company dedicated to providing innovative, reliable, and energy-efficient interconnect solutions for cloud computing and AI infrastructure. At present, the company has two major product lines: interconnect chips and Jinda server platform.

Lanqi Technology was listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange as one of the first listed companies on the Science and Technology Innovation Board in July 2019, with the stock code 688008; Listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in February 2026 with the stock code 6809. The company is headquartered in Shanghai and has branch offices in Kunshan, Beijing, Xi'an, Hengqin, Macau, as well as in the United States, South Korea, and other places.

From the perspective of industry competition, the technology barriers for memory interface chips are extremely high, and the global market presents a highly concentrated oligopoly pattern. At present, globally, only three companies, Lanqi Technology, Renesas Electronics, and Rambus, have the mature mass production capability of DDR4 and DDR5 generation memory interface chips. The three giants together occupy over 93% of the global market share, almost monopolizing the global high-end production capacity and supply channels.

Among them, domestic manufacturer Lanqi Technology has maintained a leading position in the industry, ranking first in the world with a market share of 36.8% in 2024. With stable product performance and supply chain service capabilities, it has long been deeply serving global leading storage enterprises such as Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, Micron, and is a core participant in the global storage supply chain.

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