Montage Technology's South Korea Office Raided Over Suspected Semiconductor Component Price Manipulation

On Wednesday, the 15th, South Korean prosecutors raided the South Korea offices of Montage Technology (688008-CN, 06809-HK), a leading global memory interface chip supplier, over suspected violations of the Fair Trade Act and manipulation of semiconductor component pricing. On the same day, the South Korea offices of Japan's Renesas Electronics and U.S.-based Rambus were also raided.

Following the news, Montage Technology's stock prices on both the A-share and H-share markets experienced severe volatility on the 16th. The A-share closed sharply lower by 16.44% at RMB 211.13, having at one point plunged over 20%, reducing its market capitalization to approximately RMB 254.6 billion. The H-share at one point extended its decline to over 24%.

A spokesperson from Montage Technology's board secretary office stated today that the company is currently assessing the situation, emphasizing that it has always adhered to compliant operations and will actively cooperate with the investigation. The company confirmed that its operations remain normal.

According to South Korean media reports, prosecutors suspect the three companies of colluding on pricing in advance when supplying products to clients such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.

Frost & Sullivan data indicates that the global memory interface chip market size was approximately USD 1.168 billion in 2024. Only three companies—Montage, Renesas, and Rambus—have mass production capabilities for DDR4/DDR5 chips, collectively holding over 93% market share. Among them, Montage leads with 36.8%, followed by Renesas at around 36%, and Rambus at approximately 20.5%.

Montage Technology is also a member of the JEDEC board, deeply involved in setting international standards such as DDR5. In 2025, the company reported revenue of RMB 5.456 billion and net profit of RMB 2.236 billion, with a gross margin of 62.2%.

As a key supplier of critical components for AI servers and computing infrastructure, this antitrust investigation in South Korea has raised market concerns about overseas compliance risks and supply chain stability.

To date, South Korean prosecutors have not disclosed specific details of the evidence, and the outcome of the investigation remains to be clarified.