Amid memory shortages and skyrocketing prices, Samsung is reportedly investigating whether some of its employees are accepting kickbacks on memory shipments.

According to DigiTimes, Samsung is interviewing employees in Taiwan and has made "personnel changes" in its marketing and sales divisions. Samsung tells DigiTimes that the investigation is "part of routine operating procedures," but declined to comment further.

Bribing someone over memory might sound desperate, but the shortage is affecting even the most established players. Micron, for example, ditched its consumer business altogether. Having a guaranteed supply might be worth the risk for some.

In the meantime, PC makers big and small are raising prices, and scammers have been quick to steal packages or return orders with older-gen memory sticks. We're now starting to see knock-on effects, with higher prices on everything from GPUs and laptops to SSDs and even older-gen CPUs as people opt for DDR4 PCs instead of DDR5.

It's a complete mess that looks unlikely to end anytime soon. Supply issues are expected to last at least through 2026, as AI data center orders continue to suck up the majority of global memory and storage supplies.

By: DocMemory
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