BEIJING -- China has launched antitrust investigations into three American and South Korean chipmakers in what some analysts suspect may be an effort by Beijing to further its high-tech ambitions and gain leverage in its trade row with Washington.
Regulators are looking into Micron Technology of the U.S. and South Korea's Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, the top manufacturers of DRAM memory chips. These three companies -- which together control more than 90% of the global DRAM market -- are accused of abusing their dominance to drive up chip prices, among other unfair practices, according to a source familiar with the situation.
